All's Fair in Love and Hate
by mrscribble
Summary: Cronus commands something a little unconventional, and the team must do whatever they can do to stop it, because its consequences are far more different than anything they've seen before. AxA, R&R please. CH10: cue fluffy epilogue!
1. Chapter 1

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 1 **

He hadn't expected the smile then the grin, all dazzling white teeth and pink lips. She looked radiantly at him, that smile melting the apprehensions he had held, the sun casting a brilliant glow on her face. Archie just then noticed how tense his muscles were, and he relaxed slightly with a sigh of relief on to the green, green grass beneath them. He also didn't notice that a dorky grin was making its way on to his face.

"Oh, good," he babbled mindlessly with that silly grin on his face, "because I wasn't sure whether you'd really -" Archie stopped, the grin on his face sliding off. Her eyes were - well, they were more twinkly than they usually were, and even though her eyes were pretty twinkly in the first place he was pretty sure that sort of twinkly wasn't so wet and -

Oh no.

Was she _crying_? Archie stiffened again. He - well, it was unexpected, but really, she had smiled at him and now tears were starting to pool in her grey-blue eyes. Was he allowed to be surprised? She brushed that question away from his mind as she brought a hand up to her face to wipe at her eyes and _oh God she was crying_.

"A-Atlanta!" Archie stuttered. He winced and sat up. "Don't cry, please don't cry -"

Atlanta sprung up, her hands still viciously wiping across her face. "I'm _not_ crying!" she insisted furiously, then stormed away from Archie, her red hair ruffled by the wind that was gathering considerably as she walked faster. The speedy girl started to run.

He stood and stared after her, flabbergasted. "Atlanta!" he roared, but now all he could see of her was a blurry figure far away. He'd never catch up to her if she was running. Nobody could catch up to Atlanta when she ran.

Archie collapsed back on to the grass, glaring accusingly at the park benches, the trees, the people who jogged by in sweaty glory. Aything and anyone who he might have been able to blame for Atlanta's hasty departure. It wasn't fair, though, Archie thought. Here he was being perfectly nice to her and making her happy when she suddenly bursts into tears and storms off. He threw his arms up into the air. Girls! Crazy, indecisive girls! Who could understand them!

Odie and Herry were fixing up a few plates of crackers and cheese in the kitchen while Neil sat at the table and admired his reflection in a stainless steel spoon as Archie stormed in, slamming the back door with a loud _BANG_. All three of them looked up at the purple-haired boy and raised their eyebrows. "What's eating you?" Neil muttered, before diverting his attention back to his reflection.

Archie slumped into a chair, picking at the varnish of the table. He said nothing until Odie had sat down next to him and Herry next to Neil, the plate in front of him piled with crackers and clumsily cut slabs of cheese. "See, that's the thing," Archie started, with a slightly hysterical note in his voice, "they never get the point!"

Odie blinked. "Is it just me or is he babbling?" he asked Herry. The heavily muscled boy shrugged, devouring a handful of crackers before mumbling through the crumbs, "What's up, Arch?"

Archie let his head fall on to the table, face first. "Atlanta's up, that's what," he muttered thickly. "It's like girls are an alien species or something! I mean, how hard is it to give a simple 'yes' or 'no' sometimes?"

Neil raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "I don't know, Archie, with that hair I don't think _anyone_ would want to give _you_ a straight answer..." he paused, brushing a delicate hand through his own silky hair. "_Me_, on the other hand - now I am a prime specimen!" Neil winked at himself in the spoon. "I could give you some tips if you asked nicely."

With a groan, Odie snatched the spoon away from the narcissistic blond, regardless of his loud and squealing protests. "You told her, Arch? How'd you do it?"

Archie moaned and looked back up. "It doesn't matter, Odie, all that matters is that I didn't get a straight answer and that means I didn't win!"

"Win what?" Odie asked curiously just before being interrupted by Neil showing some interest and exclaiming, "So she said no? I knew it! Who could resist my natural magnetism, my flawless skin, my -"

Herry impatiently swatted at Neil, who was lucky enough to have already sunken down closer to the table to catch a glance at himself in the spoon Odie was now holding.

Rubbing the gold brace on his heel in habit, Archie continued to rant. "I mean, she didn't even say anything! She smiled! Then she started crying! Atlanta, crying!"

Odie winced. "Ouch, man. I think that's a bad sign. Atlanta _never_ cries."

Before Archie could say anything in response, Jay wandered in, with a bit of a confused look on his face. Taking a cracker and some cheese from Odie's practically untouched plate, Jay asked the four other boys, "Have you guys seen Atlanta? I know Theresa's at school practicing in the fight room but I can't find Atlanta _anywhere_."

Odie and Herry both glanced at Archie, who flung his arms up defensively. "I don't know where she went! She just ran off after she started to -" He stopped himself.

Jay frowned. "Well, if you can find her, you'd better get her to come back. We have training with Ares soon and he told us not to be late." He glared at Neil. "And we _all_ have to be on time."

Neil assumed a defensive position. "It was only one mirror," he whined. "A zit could've popped up in that fifteen minutes!"

Before they started to quarrel about Neil's lack of self-control around mirrors, Archie got up. "I guess I'll find Atlanta," he mumbled quietly. Nobody heard over Neil's high-pitched squeal of "I am not vain!". He left anyway.

Archie had jogged back out to the park - he had the feeling she'd be there. Probably running. He shook his head. Atlanta was always running.

He looked around for her for a little while, then collapsed on to a park bench. "It's no use," he muttered.

"What's no use?" A rather quiet, familiar voice asked teasingly from beside him.

Archie jumped up, startled by the redhead's abrupt appearance. "O-Oh!" He stuttered, before regaining his composure. "Nothing. Jay's looking for you. I think."

Atlanta gave him an odd look but didn't say anything. They stood there in awkward, growing silence until Atlanta broke it. "Um, you know," she mumbled. "About what you said before -"

A loud fluttering noise filled the air, then, and Atlanta looked up, distracted. "What's that noise?" she said, puzzled, searching the air for something.

Archie blinked. "What?" He asked, still thinking about Atlanta. He was pretty sure her sentence was going to turn out in a good way and he's rather she wouldn't interrupt it because, you know, all differences aside, he really liked her. Even though they always argued and they were way too competitive to ever get along too well, Archie could hardly get his mind off her. And, well, since the catastrophe with Pan and the whole mess with the Seeper...

Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, a loud, shrill scream pierced through the air, reverberating in Archie's ears and leaving a quite annoying ringing noise in his ears. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, covering his ears a moment too late. The scream rang on even as it eventually faded away in the distance and he looked up into the clear blue sky wondering what sort of bird had a cry like _that_.

He looked back at Atlanta. "We'd better get back, Jay and the others'll be worrying about us by now." He stated, and couldn't help but notice the strange look that had suddenly entered into her eyes. Almost - almost feral, and wild, and -

Atlanta leaped at him with a mighty roar and he fell back to the ground, twisting his weak ankle a little under the brace he was wearing. "Atlanta!" he said through his clenched teeth, trying to fight her off without hurting her. "What's _wrong _with you!"

She attempted to scratch at him with her somewhat sharp nails, her wild grey eyes flashing. "_I - _**hate**_ - you_," she hissed viciously, pawing at his face. He froze up a bit at her statement, his arms failing to keep up with her angry swipes at his face. He knew she didn't mean it; something was definitely wrong... but in spite of this, he couldn't help feeling hurt.

In his emotional lapse of defense, Atlanta jabbed her knee into his groin and his hands instinctively flew to his damaged manhood. He could feel his eyes tearing up a little with pain. _If she wanted to reject me, she could've just said no_, he thought, his ego deflating appropriately. However, Atlanta didn't stop and wait for his self-pity as she landed a punch on his face. He groaned and weakly tried to stop her but now he was no match for the apparently crazed Atlanta. She drew her hand across his face in a savage motion, her fingernails tearing at the skin on his left cheek and drawing blood.

Archie awaited another blow, wincing with pain from his face, groin, and ankle, but it never came. He opened his eyes as Atlanta pushed herself off him and left, running into the forest. He raised a hand to his face, feeling the tender skin from her magnificent punch and the blood seeping from the long scratches across his face. Shaking, he managed to stand up, testing his weak ankle. _I have to get back to the brownstone_, Archie thought distractedly. _Something is definitely wrong_.

**A/N:** So, well, there's my first stab at Class of the Titans fanfiction! Don't worry, there is a slightly more "usual" plot coming - the idea is that this fanfic takes place in an episode of CotT. As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of the AxA relationship, and this is definitely going to touch on that more than a couple of times. For you JxT or NxT fans, I'm not quite as interested in those pairings, though I am keeping this as canon as I can.

Yes, a Greek myth is going to be used -- I wouldn't bear my geeky self if I didn't do so. A million chocolate chip cookies to anyone who can guess the identity of this Greek myth/mythological figure from the sparse information I've given you!

I'm relatively new to the fandom so if you could drop me a note on what you thought of the characterisation, that would be great! Reviews appreciated, constructive criticism definitely encouraged in lieu of flames.

And of course - if I owned any of this - would I even be here writing:)


	2. Chapter 2

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 2 **

"Where is that wretched goddess?" Cronus snarled. He was in a bad mood - a very, very bad mood. Cronus had told the wayward goddess to be back in an hour, but it had been two hours, fifteen minutes and three seconds and _still_ no word. You could never trust goddesses.

Standing up, the god of Time began pacing, and his face grew darker. There was nothing to look at - the dank, grey walls of the large cave having no decoration - but then again, the God of Time didn't believe in such trivial matters such as wall decor. What was the point when the world was out there, tantalising and ready to be taken over?

By the time fifteen more minutes had passed, Cronus had stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to face the giants standing at the opening of the cave with a look on his face similar to the dark clouds before the gathering of a storm. The giants guarding the opening would have looked apprehensive if their minds could process such a feeling but instead, they grunted.

"Find her," Cronus ordered, but before they could move to track down the goddess Cronus waited for, an awful, screeching laugh rang in the air and echoed through the cave, as a woman with great, fiery wings swept into the opening and landed gracefully.

"That won't be needed, _Cronus_," she hissed, in a horrible, grating voice. She raised her head, great, shining eyes intently focused on the god of Time. Before he could utter a word, she added, "The wings are wonderful... it was _most_ generous of you."

Cronus surveyed her flaming wings and smiled toothily. "Good," he said with an air of satisfaction. "Now, you've only got a sample of what I can do for you, however."

Her eyes lit up and her face, under the unkempt hair, gave a greedy glance at the god. "And if I _happen_ to decide to carry out your plan?"

Cronus said nothing, but instead turned to face the blank stone wall. "If you carry out my plan, I'm sure there will be... ample rewards."

Turning back around, he held something encased in a gentle, pulsating light. The goddess' eyes widened even more, a shine of longing in her eyes, and she lifted her head up to him. "It's not...!"

He grinned. "Yes."

* * *

Back in the meeting room, Jay paced across the floor as four others looked on bemusedly. "Calm down, Jay," Theresa finally said, with a hint of a giggle. "I'm sure they're fine." She glanced at the goddess standing across from them; Hera was tapping her foot, looking rather impatient. "Um... then again, why don't you try their radios?" Theresa added hastily, for good effect. 

Jay shook his head. "I already did. Neither of them even picked up. They're not usually this irresponsible."

"Don't worry about them, Jay," Neil interjected. "I'm sure they're just... busy." He waggled an eyebrow suggestively but stopped once Odie sent him a warning look. "Er, well, I'm sure they're coming right along now," Neil added. Jay was about to turn on the blond again, but luckily for Neil, the door creaked open and Atlanta stepped through.

"Um, hi," Atlanta said sheepishly. Hera shot her a look, and she bit her lip. "I'm sorry I'm late."

Jay threw up his hands. "Where were you! I was about to go out and _look_ for you, and you weren't even answering your PMR, either!"

Atlanta sat down next to Theresa, looking at her frantic leader, then winced. "I don't know."

"What?" Jay said, confused.

"I don't know where I was," Atlanta replied, somewhat calmly.

Odie frowned. "What d'you mean you don't know where you were? You were where you were, weren't you?"

Atlanta stared at him and didn't even try to answer his complicated sentence. She turned back to Jay and in an apologetic voice, "I honestly don't know where I was. All I remember is going running at the park, then I was walking back through the portal in the janitor's closet."

Hera pursed her lips. The goddess appeared thoughtful but instead voiced, in a vague manner, "do you know where Archie is?"

Atlanta shook her head, determinedly. The others looked at each other, sensing trouble, and Jay glanced up at the goddess of matrimony. "I'm sorry, Hera," he said with a tone of worry, "I should have kept better track of him."

Stepping back up to stroke one of her peacocks, the goddess said softly, "It is not your fault, Jay. We can only hope that nothing has happened to Archie -"

Bursting through the grand doors of the room, Archie ran up with a heavy limp to the other six teenagers, gasping for breath. "I'm sorry I'm late, I got caught up when I went to find..." The boy trailed off, looking confused. "Atlanta?"

Atlanta opened her mouth to reply but Jay interrupted, exclaiming in horror, "Archie! What happened to you?"

The bruise left over from the punch Archie had received was turning a sickly shade of purple, and where it had impacted his nose, the skin was swelled and throbbing. The long scratches across his cheek were still oozing blood which had dripped down on to his blue sweater and in other parts, had dried over leaving a dark crust of blood. Theresa winced and asked Archie in a motherly tone, "Who beat you up?"

The purple-haired boy was still staring incredulously at Atlanta, and finally muttered to Theresa, "I'm fine."

Sassily standing up and placing her hands on her hips, Theresa answered dangerously, "No you're not." Atlanta stood up next to her female friend and added angrily in spite of the awkwardness between them, "Tell us who did this to you!"

Archie gaped at the redhead. "Unbelievable," he murmured to himself, then asked Atlanta coldly, "You mean you don't remember? You know, the scream? Then you kneeing me and trying to scratch my face?"

Odie frowned. "You mean..." he said, "_she_ did it?"

All of their heads, expressions disbelieving, swivelled in unison towards the speedy girl and Atlanta protested, "I told you, I don't remember what I've been doing for the last hour or so! All I remember is before, when I was in the park with..." she trailed off, glancing at Archie, and red seeped up into her cheeks. "I just don't remember."

Archie stood in shock, staring at the red-haired girl. His mind leapt to Cronus, then to the high-pitched scream, then to the wild, unrestrained look in Atlanta's eyes at the time of her attack.

_I – hate – you. I – hate – you_.The phrase drilled itself into his head, repeating itself, and he tried to figure out the relevancy of it all. _I – hate_ – hate – **hate** –

"Hate!" Archie exclaimed, his eyes flying to those of Hera. "_Erida_!"

Hera's eyes suddenly took on a look of panic. The goddess and the young hero stared at each other for a moment until Hera tore her eyes away. "Hermes!" she called, and almost immediately, the messenger god flew into the room. "You called?" he stated, a smug self-righteous expression crossing over his face.

"I need you to fetch Ares," Hera instructed. "_Now_," she added, seeing Hermes open his mouth to protest his obviously much more powerful capabilities.

As the god hastily left the room, all faces turned to Archie as he took his place next to Odie. "Who's Erida?" Odie asked, clearly expecting an answer.

Unfortunately for him, Archie was lost in his thoughts. _It was Erida – it was hate – so that means she doesn't actually hate me_, Archie thought in relief. A troubled look came over his face as a voice in the back of his head added nastily, _but that doesn't mean that she_ likes _you_.

"Arch?" Odie repeated, prodding him. Archie blinked, dispersing his thoughts and paying attention to the bespectacled boy. "Oh, yeah?" Archie answered distantly.

"Who's Erida?" Jay asked, growing impatient. Usually he would have been able to answer any other questions about Greek mythology, but this name stumped him.

"Erida?" a loud, angry voice bellowed. Ares, god of War, had entered the room, and his face was contorted into a frown. "Erida in New Olympia?" Turning his mother and seeing the expression on her face, the god of war objected weakly, "it cannot be!"

"Gosh, enough with all the fuss already," Neil complained. "Yeah, Erida's back. So can we know who she is now?"

"Erida," Ares mused, a hint of a smile coming over his gruff face. "Erida was amazing..."

* * *

**A/N: **Ah, so there we go. Erida. I'm not going to go into an explanation of who she is until the next chapter, so hold yer horses:) Much more to be revealed next chapter. 

This chapter was, yes, mainly filler (hangs head in shame). Hopefully, though, it's building up the way I wanted it to. As always, comments appreciated, especially con-crit!

Look, ma! I figured out how to use horizontal rules again! )


	3. Chapter 3

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 3 **

"Amazing?" Herry asked, looking amused. The large, muscular war god seemed softer talking about Erida, his expression set into a small, goofy smile. Ares nodded. "Simply amazing."

Hera cut in coolly, her eyes flickering with disdain. "Erida was - _is_ - the goddess of hate."

Frowning, Ares interrupted, "She wasn't that bad. She had a lot of redeeming qualities."

"Like her ability to strike hate in men's hearts by screaming every day at sunrise?" Archie countered, and snorted. "Yeah, real redeeming."

Ares glared at his student and continued, "Erida used to go with me every time there was a war taking place, even the Trojan War. She'd make the battle more intense especially for me. It was so much fun."

Hera cleared her throat, and the god of war looked up at her. "However," she said sharply, "Are's little band of war-lovers eventually broke up. Wars were taking place that we gods no longer cared about. Greece was quite peaceful after the Romans took over, there was no need for the gods to meddle with petty fights."

"Erida got a little annoyed that we didn't need her much any more after that," Ares muttered gruffly, shrugging. "She decided she was better off without us, so she ran away into hiding somewhere."

"Wait," Jay interjected. "Who's this '_we_' you keep going on about?"

"That would be my crew," Ares said proudly. Holding up a hand, he counted, "Phobos, Deimos, Enyo, Erida, and Eris. We went to every major war in Greece and made things a lot more exciting."

Suddenly, the main doors slammed open and a curvy blonde figure clad in red stormed up to Hera, three women following who were fussing over her hair. Coming to a stop very close to Hera's surprised face, Aphrodite snarled, "Where is it? I know you have it!"

Ares came up to the goddess of love, meekly murmuring, "This might not be the time, Aphrodite -"

Aphrodite growled and pushed the god away roughly. Turning back to Hera, she screeched, "I demand you give it back!"

Theresa bit her lip. "Guys, don't you think we should do something?" she whispered nervously. Silence greeted her, and as she looked around at the team seated comfortably on the blue cushions, she noticed with annoyance that all of the boys save Neil were staring, some open-mouthed, at the beautiful goddess who had just entered. Atlanta shrugged helplessly at Theresa's glance, and shifted to face the only boy capable of doing anything other than drooling.

"Neil," Atlanta said, "why don't you try sort things out? She _is_ your mentor, after all..."

With a sigh, Neil closed his golden mirror in which he had been admiring his reflection and slipped it into his pocket. "If you _insist_..."

Neil stood and took a few steps over to Aphrodite. "Hey, Aphrodite," he said soothingly, taking her arm gently, "how about we clear things up, okay? So what did Hera take from you?"

"My golden apple!" Aphrodite spat, glaring daggers at Hera, and shaking Neil off her arm. He looked slightly offended at this, and made a disgruntled noise. Neither of the goddesses noticed him.

Hera's hands flew to her hips, and she scowled. "Why would I take _that_? It's not even worth stealing."

Aphrodite's eyes narrowed further. "You know it says '_for the fairest_' and you know _I _earned that title!" she shrieked.

The elder goddess sniffed. "_I_ don't need it," she said coldly, "and the only reason _you_ won it was because you bribed that silly boy."

The goddess of love flipped her long hair over one shoulder. "Don't tell me _you_ didn't try to bribe Paris," she hissed angrily, "I know you did."

Turning on her heel, Aphrodite stormed across the room, her lackeys behind her twittering in despair about the state of her dishevelled clothes and hair. "I want that apple back, Hera!" she cried in contempt. "If you didn't take it, you'd better find it!"

The door slammed with a loud BANG, startling the boys back into sanity. The two girls narrowed their eyes and shifted slightly away from their male counterparts, who reddened guiltily. Neil shrugged dismissively and sat back down, taking out his ever-present mirror and checking his hair again.

Hera sighed. "You have a lot of work to do, children," she said softly, her eyes flickering up to meet Ares'.

* * *

Six figures sweated miserably as they practised fighting each other. Several of them grasped wooden practice weapons, and others only their bare fists (or, in certain cases, padded vests and kneepads). It was Jay's idea to get in as much training as they could get after their talk with Hera; he had decided, to the chagrin of the rest of the team, that the seven heroes needed as much practise as they could get. Jay had not voiced his worries about fighting an actual god other than Cronus himself. The team had never had to do so and he wasn't sure they would find it very easy this time.

"So," Odie repeated, ducking under a punch thrown by Herry, "We're going to track down Erida, find Aphrodite's apple, and suffer under horrible training exercises, all in _one week or less_, because if we don't, Cronus is going to take over the world and Aphrodite's going to go mad on Hera again?"

Jay swung his rough wooden staff at Theresa, who stepped to one side skillfully and countered with a slap from her wooden nunchucks, sending Jay to the ground. "Yeah," Jay panted, jumping to his feet and swinging the staff around again. "But these exercises aren't horrible. They're good for your mind and soul."

Atlanta dodged a feeble kick from Neil and flipped him on to his back, while he complained, "that's no excuse to tear my body to pieces - _oof_!"

Archie looked upon the expression of pain stretched across Neil's face, grinning at the melodramatic boy - Neil had insisted on padding himself up when he'd learned he was going to be practising with Atlanta. After enjoying a few moments of Neil's usual complaints, Archie turned back to his leader. "So what's our plan?" Archie asked, tossing the ice pack he was using to subdue the swollen bruise on his face into the air. He was the only one at rest; Theresa had insisted that he take a break after examining his battered face. Chiron, horrified, had agreed.

Jay pushed Theresa down with the staff until she was kneeling, her arms straining to lift the staff against Jay's strength. "We wait until there's a sign of Erida -" Theresa succeeded in turning Jay's weapon against him, and pushed him back against a wall - "then we counterattack," Jay managed to say, before Theresa held the staff against his neck and he conceded defeat.

"What if she doesn't attack?" Atlanta asked doubtfully, faking a punch to Neil's stomach and cuffing him around the head instead, causing him to tumble to the ground awkwardly. She had given up on using the staff Jay had passed her, instead using her hands to thoroughly give Neil a beating.

"Then we attack first," Jay answered earnestly.

A moment of silence fell over the group, their expressions unreadable. The silence stretched thickly in the air as they stood quietly, until Archie leapt up. "Well, that was weird," he said good-naturedly. "I'll see you guys later, I'll go see if I can get any more info about Erida."

Everyone voiced their good-byes and just before he turned to leave, Archie's eyes swept over the other six heros, his glance lingering a little too long on Atlanta. As the door of the gym swung closed, five heads swivelled to face Atlanta, grins stretched over their faces.

Uncomfortably, Atlanta shifted from side to side, looking at their amused expressions. "What?" she asked guiltily, and thwacked the smirking Neil over the head.

* * *

**A/N**: For the Greek myth nuts out there, yes, I did do a bit of "creative thinking" when it came to Erida's background. I also chose to have Erida a separate goddess from Eris; I believe there is some uncertainty regarding Erida and Eris as two different goddesses, but I chose two goddesses for the sake of the plot of this story.

This chapter is shorter than the other two and more talk than action, but I promise there'll be some more action in the following chapters. Expect more A/A, more Neil/himself, and perhaps some techno-Greeks:D


	4. Chapter 4

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 4**

Archie's head flew up as he heard the front door of the brownstone open and the rest of the team trickle in with moans of pain. "Hey, guys!" he greeted them. Several collapsed on the floor near his feet. Jay leaned casually against the foosball table, which Atlanta and Theresa had weakly collapsed against. "Jay push you guys hard?" Archie asked delicately, reaching a hand inside the tub of popcorn he was holding.

Neil muttered something in a muffled voice into the carpet, forsaking his treasured reflection to the opportunity of lying still for the first time in several hours. Odie gave a groan in reply, spread-eagled out in the middle of the floor, and even Herry murmured something pitifully in agreement, the Herculean teen sitting bent almost double on a footstool.

"Any news on Erida, Arch?" Jay asked earnestly, walking over to glance at the TV.

Swiftly grabbing the remote control, Archie changed the channel from an intense betrayal scene in a soap opera to the night-time news. At the blonde newsreader's voice, all seven heroes raised their heads slightly to watch.

"_In the heart of New Olympia, several cases of extreme madness have broken out, causing destruction and injury to sweep through the city. Seven people and counting have reportedly caught the mystery disease, issuing injuries to strangers on the street, and even close relatives nearby. All of the victims of the sudden madness claim they do not remember ever harming the people hospitalized, one even going so far as to say that the entire thing has been made up by alien invaders from outer space. Those who have been affected by the apparent disease have been placed in police custody until further notice._"

Jay, snatching the remote control, began to flip through the channels, many of which were displaying evening news broadcasts. All of the newsreaders were reading out the horrific results of Erida's work; the hatred-filled people, the injured victims of the blind attacks, the child who had been killed savagely by his own elderly grandfather. As the channels changed, the reports growing more and more frantic, Jay's face grew more grim, until he finally turned off the television.

The leader looked around at his team, who all had troubled looks on their faces. "We have to track her down," he said abruptly.

"Not until tomorrow morning you will," Athena interjected sternly from the doorway. The war goddess stared at the team, wrinkling her nose at their dishevelled appearances. "You need to sleep."

Protesting voices greeted her statement, all of the team voicing their concerns. Hearing about one death was enough to shake them badly. Herry finally broke through with an loudly indignant, "But we can't let - _that_ happen for the next eight hours!"

Athena sighed gently. "It might seem horrible to leave her roaming around," she said softly, "but I'd rather seven well-rested heroes fight a goddess than seven tired, weak teenagers with no plan."

Jay stuck his hands in his pockets, ducking his head. He knew Athena was right, but the very thought of leaving Erida out there to wreak more chaos make him feel sick to the stomach. He knew that the other six would wait for his word before they did anything, but he could tell they wanted to stop the destructive goddess, _now_.

Finally, he raised his head slowly. "I guess we should all get some sleep, guys," he muttered. The other six stood up wordlessly, and filed upstairs, Theresa sparing a soft "'night Jay," as she disappeared at the top of the stairs. Jay's eyes lingered there for a moment until he looked back at the wise goddess.

Athena smiled at him, the smile reaching her grey eyes filled with knowledge spanning centuries. "You made the wise choice, Jay," she said, and with a motherly squeeze of his shoulder, left him standing there alone in front of the blank television.

* * *

Atlanta tossed and turned, catching only a few minutes of sleep at a time before she woke up in bed again. Reaching a hand up to rub her eyes, she finally glanced at the clock, which blinked a steady red **3:42 AM**. Atlanta groaned, and turned on her bedside lamp, sitting up and smoothing out her blankets as she got up and stretched. Her mind was far too preoccupied to sleep, and despite what Athena had said before, she didn't feel tired - Atlanta was used to not sleeping for a few days in a row. 

The youngest hero sighed as she stripped off her clothes and changed back into a rumpled pair of khakis and a tshirt. She sat down on her bed with the light shining on to her face, staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes travelled to one side, stopping at the edge between the ceiling and the wall, until she forced them to move back up to the ceiling. Atlanta didn't want to think about who was in the room next door at the moment.

The girl sat there, staring up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts, until someone softly rapped on the door. "Come in," Atlanta muttered, bringing her eyes back down to her hands, which were fiddling nervously. She willed them to stop, which they didn't.

Theresa poked her head in the doorway, then slipped inside, closing the door with a gentle _click_. "I couldn't sleep," Theresa admitted guiltily, sitting down next to Atlanta on the bed, "I keep thinking about Erida."

Atlanta laughed bitterly. "So do I." Her eyes travelled to the wall from which a loud snoring sound echoed. "Apparently we're the only ones."

Theresa bit her lip, brushing her long red hair out of her face. "Are you okay?" she asked sincerely, scrutinizing the other girl's expression. Atlanta's shoulders sagged as she took a deep breath.

Turning away from Theresa slightly, Atlanta chewed her lip for a long moment, her mind on the blank space in her memory that should have been filled but wasn't. "I'm... confused."

Theresa nodded sagely. "I would be too."

The hunter looked back at the fighter. "I just want to fill in that gap, you know? I don't know why she had to have gotten _me_, of all people."

Theresa looked startled. "Oh!" she cried, then slapped her hand over her mouth. "I wasn't talking about that," Theresa mumbled, blushing.

Atlanta's eyes narrowed. "What were you talking about, then?" she asked, but Theresa's tell-tale expression gave it all away. Leaping up, Atlanta accusingly stared at Theresa.

"How did you know?" Atlanta cried. She paused to make sure that the snoring from Neil's room continued, then said in a quieter voice, "do the other guys know as well?"

Theresa giggled. "Atlanta," she managed to say before erupting in silent laughter, "_everyone_ knows Archie has liked you since Pan came!"

Atlanta's stunned expression caused Theresa to fall about in more bouts of silent laughter. "How come _you_ didn't know?" Theresa finally giggled.

Slowly, the younger girl sat back down on the bed. "I dunno," Atlanta said awkwardly. "I guess I never really thought about us that way. I mean, he's a great friend and all, but... I didn't know he_ like_ liked me until he told me today."

Theresa sighed again, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "Okay, Atlanta, I'm going to tell you some stuff I don't know if you've noticed before, okay?"

Atlanta nodded, her expression still frozen in shock.

Holding up a hand, Theresa counted off the things she mentioned. "When Pan was Phil and we all knew you liked him, Archie was insanely jealous, partly because he was about to ask you out."

The younger girl let out a stunned squeak.

"Archie stayed with you when you had the Seeper virus until he had to come to fight it," Theresa continued, watching Atlanta's face carefully, "and when you were hypnotized by Arachne and he told you how much we cared about you, he almost said that he loved you. Do you ever wonder why he's always next to you when we have to fight something?"

"That's what friends do, isn't it?" Atlanta said uncertainly. "I mean, I've never though about me - and Archie - like, you know."

Theresa gave another dramatic sigh, then patted Atlanta's hand. "You have a lot of stuff to learn."

Atlanta held up her hands defensively. "_You're_ the boy-crazy one in the group, not_ me_!"

Theresa made a silly face, then stood up. "I'd better get back before someone catches us here," she said regretfully. "I'll see you in the morning."

Atlanta nodded, and waited until Theresa had left the room before she promptly hit herself over the head with a pillow.

* * *

Stumbling downstairs, Odie was greeted with a startling sight- all of the other six heros gathered around the dining table, gathered close and discussing something very seriously. The brainy boy groaned. "Did I miss something?" he asked. "It's five in the morning." 

Jay looked up at him. "Odie!" he said cheerfully. "Grab a seat. We're talking about how we can find Erida."

"No '_look Odie, pancakes!_' or '_morning Odie!_', it's always an '_Odie, we need a plan_!'" Odie grumbled under his breath to himself as he sat down. He looked around at the other six, observing a few dark undereye circles and stifled yawns. Jay continued to rattle on about tactics and fighting until Odie finally spoke up. "Why don't we just spring a trap?" he asked irritably.

Jay blinked. His eyes were rather puffy, and he looked as if he'd been up all night. "We need something elaborate," he answered wearily, "she's a smart goddess. Erida won't fall for something simple. And besides, we still don't know how we can stop her scream from affecting us." Jay gave a small smile to the brainy hero, then continued talking about a plan.

However, Odie soon found himself speaking up again. "Jay, you look as if you're about to die of exhaustion any minute. Did you sleep at _all_ last night?"

"No," Jay admitted sheepishly, fidgeting slightly. His six teammates glared at him. "I was too busy thinking about how to trap Erida," he protested.

"Jay," Archie said as calmly as he could, "why don't you leave the tactics and stuff to us? You need sleep as much as we did. You look like a zombie. We can handle this stuff. Don't worry about it."

Herry and Neil pulled their leader out of his chair as he struggled defensively, then weakly let go. "Maybe you're right," Jay said tiredly, and smiled gratefully at his teammates. "Thanks."

Theresa laughed. "Don't thank us," she said, "go get some sleep!"

Jay turned with another tired but grateful smile, and made his way upstairs. Once he was out of sight, Theresa opened the fridge to examine its contents. "Who's up for breakfast?"

All of them raised their hands, and Archie grinned as he began to form a plan on to the blank paper in front of him.


	5. Chapter 5

** All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 5**

_In his sleep, Jay dreamed of Cronus and Erida, Theresa and Odie, Neil's gold-plated mirror and Herry's monster truck._

_Running, Jay struggled to catch up to the evil god of Time, island scenery passing them as the leader hopelessly attempted to grab hold of Cronus' sleek black sleeve. The faster he ran, the closer he got to Cronus, but the god always managed to teleport a few feet ahead, laughing cruelly as he taunted the tired boy. The descendant of Jason tripped, tripped over a root from a menacing overhead tree and landed facefirst at the god's feet. Now, they were washed up on Aeolus' island, and Cronus held Neil's mirror in one hand, holding it up to Jay's face, a cold, mirthless smile spreading across Cronus' face. Jay caught sight of his reflection, and cried out in alarm as he saw Herry's truck advancing quickly behind him. Leaping up, Jay began to run again, running right across the open space above the water with the orange truck in chase. They passed Theres and Odie, and Jay tried to cry for help, but they merely laughed and pointed ahead. A fiery circle lay pulsing in Jay's path and as he ran towards it in horror, he tried to stop, but he ran right through the flaming barrier, his face growing hot, and then_

**a scream** - _cold savage cruel angry blood-chilling feral wild_ - **a scream**

**

* * *

**

Jay sat straight up in bed with a cry, his brown eyes wide with terror and cold sweat running down his face. He took in his surroundings and reassured himself shakily before he stood up, not bothering to do his bed. Slowly walking down the stairs, he wiped his forehead with slight relief. It was only a dream, he scolded himself. You shouldn't've gotten so worked up about it.

Stepping into the kitchen, Jay sat down at the foot of the table before jumping up again and staring round at his teammates. Archie and Odie sat reclined at the head of the table, twin smiles set across their satisfied faces, and the other four were gathered around them, grins wide on their faces as well. "You're - done?" Jay asked faintly.

Odie sat up a little straighter. "We're past done," he answered proudly. "We've got a master plan, a back-up plan, and a back-up plan for the back-up plan."

"And," Archie interjected cockily, "they're impossible for Erida to get past."

Jay sank back down in his chair, staring at his team. His heart was bursting with pride for their amazing feat, but he could only manage a few stuttered words. "Y-You mean you're done? And with back-ups and everything -" they nodded again, and a smile reached his mouth. "You guys are amazing," Jay said in wonder. "You've sorted out all the things we need and the steps we need to take, and how to hold her off, and how to stop her scream from affecting us - you guys are _the best_."

A bit of a troubled look came over Odie's face. "Okay, well, maybe not that last point," he said uncertainly. "We were planning on figuring that out as we go on."

Jay paused, but shrugged. "That's fine."

Grins erupted over everyone's faces again, and Herry stood up. "I'm gonna go grab some burgers," he cried. "To celebrate our brilliant plan!"

Odie's grin widened some more. "Great!" he exclaimed, then lightly punched the Herculean boy's arm."You know my order."

Herry laughed, and grabbed his smallest friend affectionately around the neck, giving him a noogie. The friendship between the two was somewhat startling at first glance, but Herry's gentle soul and Odie's heart of gold went together like bread and butter. Odie struggled and complained as custom under Herry's huge grasp, but the grin on his face lasted through the friendly tussle.

"You guys want anything special?" Herry asked, looking around at the rest of the crew. Neil looked up at him lazily. "Tell them to leave off the pickles on mine," the blond grumbled, "you guys always forget I hate those gross things."

Herry nodded, then took his PMR off the table and closed the door behind him, calling "I'll be back in a sec," behind him.

The other six lapsed into a comfortable silence before Jay broke it suddenly, repeating in amazement from the elaborate plans written out on the paper in front of him to Archie and Odie, "I can't believe you guys did all this!"

Archie grinned again. "Well, it was mostly Odie's ideas. I just... helped," he admitted, rubbing his bruised nose shyly.

Nodding, Jay murmured offhandedly, "Odysseus was an amazing tactician, he went around being called 'the man of many wiles'."

Odie shrugged, a blush staining his cheeks. "I'm not _that_ great," he protested. His dark eyes went around the room, five faces clearly reading_ yes, you are_, and he blushed a deeper shade of scarlet.

As his eyes roamed the room uncomfortably, they fell on to a pair of keys sitting on the countertop. "Herry forgot his truck keys," Odie said loudly. "I'll go... er... give them to him now!"

The dark boy jumped up and dived for the doorknob, as the rest of his teammates burst out laughing. Theresa, however, sat still, her eyes wide, as a vision penetrated her train of thought.

_**a shrill scream** -** a roar like a lion's - muscles bulging - Odie's terrified face**_

"_No_!" Theresa shrieked, stretching her hand out towards the door, but Odie was already out the door. Jay stood up, his face serious. "Theresa?"

The redhead turned towards him, her face white. "Odie's in danger!" she cried tearfully.

* * *

The five frantic teenagers spilled out into the alley that opened out from the door Odie had taken out of the kitchen. They spent several moments looking around for either of their two friends, but nothing of importance was observable, other than the fact the the alley was extremely dark and it smelled, disturbingly, of rotting fish. 

Archie looked towards Theresa. "There's no one here," he said, sounding somewhat exasperated.

Theresa closed her eyes, concentrating on her intelligent bespectacled friend and hoping to divine something. She finally turned and pointed further down in the alley, where the signal she was receiving of Odie was particularly strong and horribly fearful. "There!" she said, but everyone was already running in that direction.

The team kept their eyes peeled for Odie as they ran down the alley, seeing nothing and no one. "Nobody's here!" Jay panted, slowing down despairingly. "How could Odie have gotten this far away anyway?"

Nobody needed to reply, as a roar rang through the narrow passageway, a horrified cry following it. Atlanta sped up, turning the corner, with the others at her heels.

When they finally halted, their eyes had to grow accustomed to the even dimmer light until they collectively breathed in with horror.

Herry had pinned Odie forcefully against the stone wall of the dead-end, the keys to his truck thrown aside carelessly. Odie was groaning in pain, his left arm bent behind his back at an awkward angle; the longer Herry held the broken limb, the quieter his moans became, and Herry drew his strong arm back for a final punch.

Atlanta's bolas beat him to it, entangling his legs and causing Herry to collapse, leaving Odie to slump against the wall, his eyes slipping close and the blood from his broken, battered arm seeping quickly through his shirt. Neil managed to make his way past the enraged Herry, kneeling next to Odie and trying to pull him up.

With a savage roar, Herry broke free of the bolas, his eyes wild as he turned to face the other four. He flexed his huge muscles and threw his head back, roaring again like an animal might just before striking its prey. He took a step closer, his teeth bared, but Archie drew his Hephaestus whip and flung loosely around Herry's broad chest and arms, and Archie pressed the button on the side of the handle, causing an electric charge to travel through the length of wire and making the muscular teenager shake as he passed out. Archie grimly retracted the whip, jabbing it into the pocket of his sweater.

Theresa ran forward, taking Herry's shoulders, and shook him forcefully until his eyes began to open slowly. Neil tried a similar method with Odie, but only evoked another cry of pain. "Leave him be," Jay painfully muttered; in his heart, he wanted to make sure Odie was alright as well, but his mind told him that would be a better job for Chiron.

The combined efforts of the two girls finally got Herry to open his eyes, his body still weak from the electrical charge. His eyes were back to normal, no longer filled with the savage, primitive light they had been filled with before. He moaned gently.

Archie stood in the middle of it all, his hands clenched. "We'd better get them to the gods, Jay," he heard himself say, but his voice was faraway and faint. Everyone glanced at him, Neil's face especially white and scared from witnessing Odie's pain up close. "Archie!" he heard Atlanta say in a panicked voice, before he fell over and everything went black.

* * *

**A/N**: Alright, that was depressing to even _write_. Well, more on Odie and Herry in the next chapter, and the actual fighting/attempted capturing of Erida will start (I think) in either the next chapter, or the one after it. 

One a more cheerful note, thanks to everyone who's left a review so far! That would be to the amazing 0lympias, Princess Aelita Lyoko, Sandall, Ishii Sen Ling, Twill, Nick Conway, ChattyPants, Raven Child2, EilayAdnayVolieay, and christiankikyo! Your thoughts have been very much appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

** All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 6**

Jay paced up and down outside the great golden doors inside the gods' domain, nervously playing with his key pendant. He brushed his fingers across the engraved "J" and toyed with the chain of the necklace, letting the pendant slide down and around the links it was set on.

"I'm sure they'll be okay," Theresa piped up, but her worried face betrayed her words. She kept raising her hand to her mouth, gnawing nervously on her nails. Atlanta, next to her on the smooth steps, sat with her arms around her knees. She was biting her bottom lip with a sort of frantic concern.

Even Neil looked worried, tapping his right foot quickly. His handsome eyes perpetually flickered from the doors, to Jay's face, to Theresa's hand, down to his sparkling clean shoes, and back to the doors. The blond's hands were stuck inside his pockets, and he was slouching rather more than usual.

A few more minutes elapsed, all four of the teenagers doing their nervous actions, until Chiron finally emerged from the golden doors, his face somewhat grim. The two girls leapt up, and simultaneously the four friends asked, "How are they?"

Chiron shook his head with a sigh. "They'll be alright." He was met with a collective sigh of relief as the four relaxed, Neil taking out his three-panel mirror. Jay still looked slightly worried as he asked, "How's Odie? Are Archie and Herry okay?"

Chiron gave a deep whinny before he said, "Odie will live. He is in bad shape, so do be careful about him when you go in; half of his ribs on one side are cracked or bruised, and his arm was snapped in two."

"What about Archie and Herry?" Atlanta interjected.

"Archie's in shock," Chiron answered, "Too much exertion, he'll need to rest. And Herry..."

"Well?" Neil prompted, slipping his mirror back in his pocket. Chiron gave a deep sigh. "You'd better see for yourself," the god replied sadly, stepping aside so the teenagers could enter the room.

Archie was sitting on the bed closest to them, and turned when he heard their footsteps. "Thank _god_! Guys, can you bail me out of here? I swear, I'm okay!" he pleaded.

Chiron glared warningly at Jay, and the leader grinned apologetically, holding back a chuckle. "Sorry, Arch," he replied, trying to keep his face straight, "you need your rest." The violet-haired boy grumbled, crossing his arms.

Odie was lying in the center bed, his arm bound in a white cloth and his face pale. His glasses were still perched on his nose, but his eyes were half-closed. As he saw his four friends come into the room, the smaller boy managed a smile. "Hey, guys," he murmured, his eyelids slipping closed even more, "So much for the plans, eh?"

Only Theresa could give a forced smile to his attempted joke.

A quiet sob sounded from the other side of the bed, and Neil peered over. "Herry, is that you?" he asked, bewildered. The huge teen kneeled at Odie's side, cradling his face in one hand, hot tears slipping down through his fingers and onto his bloodstained shirt. They had never seen their strong friend so vulnerable before.

Archie helplessly looked up at the others. "He thinks it's his fault Odie's hurt."

"I'm sorry, little guy," Herry said in a cracked voice to Odie, "I'm so, so sorry... It's all my fault."

Odie gave another smile as his eyes closed entirely. "S'okay, man," he said quietly. "You weren't thinking right."

Atlanta took charge as Odie slipped back into unconciousness. "Herry, you'd better come with us, you need fresh air," she ordered. "Archie... maybe you should sleep," she added, her voice softening.

"I'm fine!" Archie protested again, stubbornly standing up. Theresa patted his arm. "You should stay with Odie," she said quietly. Archie sighed but sat back down.

Herry, however, wasn't budging a bit, and required the help of all five heroes to pull him up, grunting with exertion. Even as he did stand, he took heavy, wooden steps out the golden doors, his shoulders slumped in defeat. They watched him with worry, and followed along, Archie left behind to watch over Odie.

Theresa caught up with Herry, saying gently, "it's not your fault, Herry."

Herry turned to face her. "How do you know?" he demanded. "_You_ didn't do it. Didn't you _see_? Odie's arm, it was bleeding, the _bones_ -" he stopped forcefully, turning away and striding forward.

The redheaded girl stopped, crossing her arms as they exited through the portal. "You didn't mean it."

He shook his head with a quiet, bitter laugh as he headed out of the janitor's closet and down the hall, leaving the others behind. Theresa helplessly looked at Jay, who shrugged, an uncertain look on his face. Jay strode forward, catching up easily with the larger boy, and said, "Erida made you do it. It wasn't your fault. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at Erida, not yourself."

At this, Herry shook his head again, tilting his face up to the ceiling.

The leader turned around, joining the rest of the team. "If you're going to act like an idiot, go ahead," he called over his shoulder at Herry, and began to lead them in the opposite direction. "We've got some more planning to do," he said to his three companions. Raising his voice, he added, "regardless of whether you're with us, or not."

* * *

"Always late," Cronus said angrily, sweeping his arm in a wide motion across the model city, causing it to crash down. "Always, always, _late_. What can I do to have some service around here?"

The god turned around, facing Agnon. "This time I really want you to find her," Cronus snarled. The giant grunted and stepped foot outside the cavern. Before he could do anything, however, a familiar shrill cackle rang through the air, and Agnon was bowled over by the winged goddess, who neatly landed before Cronus, the golden apple of Discord lying in her palm.

"No need for that, Cronus," she hissed, a smile set on her face. "I was just having some fun."

Cronus frowned. "There's no time for games, Erida," he answered. She crossed her arms and pouted flirtatiously at him. He forced himself not to shudder.

"No," the goddess of hate said, "I was having some fun with the apple." She swept over, closer to Cronus, and pressed him against the wall of the cavern with a long, skinny finger. He tried to mask his repulsed expression, but failed. She frowned at him, and stepped back. "It certainly caused an ample amount of _discord_."

Cronus nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes, very well," he said hastily, "but what about the children?"

Erida then prodded Agnon on the shoulder, and he winced. She smiled sweetly at the giant, who looked stupidly at her filthy hand, and turned to Cronus again. "The children were easy," she replied delicately. "A little chorus for their pleasure and young Odysseus was maimed, by his own friend, no less." Erida sniffed. "I never did like Odysseus."

"Good," the god of Time said, satisfied. "You should continue if you want your reward."

Suddenly, the goddess advanced on Cronus, pressing him up against the wall. He managed an undiginified squeak before she whispered, "You know, I'm starting to think I deserve more in this exchange."

Cronus nodded desperately, backed up against the the wall. "Very well, I'll add in the caduceus of Hermes to the deal -" he said hastily, struggling to be rid of Erida's iron grip.

Erida pushed Cronus up, lifting him a few inches and looking him darkly in the eye. "I want more than that, Cronus," she purred, and tapped his nose with a long, dirt-encrusted nail. He winced, turning his face away, muttering, "Maybe we can negotiate later -"

She covered his mouth with one hand, and smiled sweetly. "Now," she said forcefully, and kissed him hard as he flailed helplessly, trying to signal to Agnon, the giant too distracted by the golden apple Erida had left on the ground.

* * *

"Did you mean it?" Neil asked nervously, as the four remaining friends entered the brownstone. "I mean, don't you think kicking Herry out of the team is gonna screw us over?"

Atlanta plopped herself down in front of the television to check on any updates on Erida's attacks. "Neil's got a point," she said wistfully. "Herry's the strongest out of all of us."

Jay shook his head. "If he wallows in self-pity, he's not strong," he said quietly, standing behind Atlanta to watch the news broadcast. "Besides, I have a feeling he'll come to his senses."

Neil sat down next to Theresa, who had just joined Atlanta in watching the news. "You're the leader," he said dryly, taking out his mirror again, "You tell us what to do."

"No," Jay answered wryly, a new plan forming in his mind, "I tell you _how_ to do it."

* * *

**A/N**: Poor Cronus, he's really got himself into a mess, hasn't he?  



	7. Chapter 7

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 7**

Jay sat at the desk in his room, furiously scribbling on a pad of paper. The table lamp that sat next to him, lighting up the room dimly but providing enough light for him to see, had been on for a while now. The darkness of the night penetrated his thin curtains, and the moon shone directly on to the head his barely rumpled bed, casting white light on the alarm clock next to it which clearly read 3:25 AM.

The boy reached into a desk drawer, taking out a straightedge, and tried to draw a triangle with the plotted points balancing on the graph paper he had just taken. He set the straightedge down, staring resignedly at the scalene triangle. The leader sighed, throwing his pen down, and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. The team - or what was left of it - had attempted a practice of technique in the school gym, but their hearts were evidently not into it. After Atlanta had let one of Neil's half-hearted parries catch her on the neck for the fifth time, Jay called the whole thing off, leading them back to the brownstone.

He would not be so concerned, however, if it wasn't his fault. Yet again, Jay felt too strongly that if he had not made them work so hard, if he had not pushed them - maybe Odie would be alright. Maybe Herry would be sleeping in his room right now, huge arms wrapped around that teddy bear of his.

Of course, there was still something in the back of his mind that tried to assure him that everything was alright, that it was not his fault. After all, he hadn't really pushed them all that hard at all. He sighed again, trying to listen to this voice, but his mind eventually strayed back to his bad leadership skills.

Jay picked up the pen again, twirling it as he stared distantly at the graphed points and the blue squares that represented New Olympia. His eyes narrowed, boring a hole into the pen cap perched on top of the pen, and in a sudden fit of rage, he threw it violently to the floor. Turning his chair around, he looked at the pen that sat on the carpet, then buried his face in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. _Did Jason ever let down the Argonauts?_ he wondered to himself. _Did he ever let them break apart?_

"No, he didn't," a voice answered his thoughts. He looked up, startled by his visitor's silent entrance. Theresa stood, leaning against his doorframe, and she smiled at him. "But you didn't let us down, either."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "How'd you do that?" he asked, reaching for the pen he had thrown on the floor. "I though you said you couldn't read minds," he added suspiciously.

The redhead made a face. "You get this really weird expression when you're thinking about the myths," she answered cheerfully, "and you don't look so happy, either."

The boy only gave a tired smile. "You should get some sleep for tomorrow," he muttered, turning back to his graphs and notes. Theresa rolled her eyes behind him, and stood to tap him on the shoulder. "Wake up, mister hypocrite," she replied, slightly annoyed. "I though we proved you need as much rest as we do?"

Jay waved a hand dismissively, now poring over patterns in the hate attacks he had methodically recorded. "I have a lot of stuff to plan," he said vaguely, tracing a circle around a sequence of words. "You should go."

Theresa stood there for a moment, then scowled at the back of his head.

All of a sudden, Jay's papers lifted up in front of him, jumbled into a pile, and happily ripped into quarters, dropping back down on to Jay's desk. Jay stared, stunned, at the mess, then looked angrily at Theresa, who held a smug grin on her face. "That was four hours' work!"

Theresa shrugged. "You need to get yourself in bed and asleep," she retorted. She let him mutter a few half-hearted protests before pushing him over to his bed. He sat down of his own accord then painstakingly settled under the covers, lying on his side openly with his arms above the fabric. She raised her eyebrows at him. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

Jay smiled fondly at the redhead, quietly murmuring his thanks before she turned away, flipping off the table lamp so that the only light that shone in the room was the bright moonlight streaming through the window.

"You know," Jay said as he watched her move past his bed, "you haven't got a reason to still be awake."

She hesitated, looking directly at him. Wrapping her arms around her own nightgown-clad body, she finally answered quietly, "yes, I do." She stood there for a little longer, the silence in the room slightly uncomfortable.

Eventually, the redhead quickly turned and fled the room, but not before bending over to gently brush her lips against his cheek.

_thisisadivider _

The next morning, Jay, Theresa, Neil, and Atlanta were up early to visit their two comrades still under the watchful gaze of the gods. Predictably, Archie jumped up from his bored seat on one of the beds as he saw them enter. "Thank god!" he muttered again, ignoring the disapproving stare of the centaur. "I was wondering when you'd come to bail me out."

Jay looked pointedly up at Chiron, and the centaur sighed. "Oh, alright," he said, turning away, "but don't expect me to help if he hurts himself!"

Archie rolled his eyes. "So, what's up?" he asked, rather cheerfully considering the brutality of the attacks spreading over New Olympia. He himself was still sporting a bandage over the scratches on his face, and his gaze was very forcefully ignoring Atlanta. Her glance was blatantly concentrated on the ceiling.

Jay sat down next to him. "We need Odie's help," he said. "I've got an idea about how we can corner Erida, but I need him to help me track her down."

"You forget who I am," Odie weakly countered. The group stared at him with a mix of surprise and relief. Already, he was looking much better - his eyes were as bright and alert as they usually were, and he could manage a smile much better.

Chiron bustled over to him, a golden goblet in his hand. "Ambrosia and nectar," he answered Jay's questioning glance. "It is only fitting he should be allowed the food of the gods."

"It's made him feel a lot better, obviously," Archie observed dryly, reaching a hand up to touch his bruised face. "I didn't get any at _all_."

Odie smiled and drank deeply from the goblet, a healthy colour flooding to his cheeks with every gulp. Once he finished, he looked back at Jay with another wide smile. "You forget who I am," he repeated mischieviously.

Jay grinned. "So you can help us?" he asked, a much more encouraged tone in his voice.

"Are you _kidding_?" Odie retorted, looking somewhat offended. "Jay, I can do it _for_ you. I just need data."

Archie leapt to his feet, his gold brace glinting. "I'll get it," he immediately cried, eager to get some air and some room, and sped out of the doors. Jay yelled after him, "They're on my desk!"

Odie grinned at Archie's speedy retreat, then added, "Did you bring my laptop?"

Jay mentally hit himself for forgetting it, and looked towards Atlanta. "Can you catch up to Archie and tell him to get it as well?"

She shrugged uncomfortably. A strange sheen in Theresa's eyes as she glanced at the other girl made Atlanta flush slightly. "Oh, alright," she muttered, and ran out of the room.

It didn't take Atlanta long to spot Archie, her long legs pounding against the floor at a pace unsurpassable by other people. She easily caught up to the boy, slowing down to fall in step beside him. She was silent for a moment, before awkwardly muttering, "we need Odie's laptop, too."

Archie nodded coolly, still walking as she stopped. Atlanta watching him go, fidgeting slightly with her hands, then said softly, "I'm sorry."

He stopped, then, some ten feet away from her. She could make out his hands stuffed in the pockets of his sweatshirt, and his shoulders pushed slightly forward. She had thought about him a couple of times since Theresa's night-time visit, but only fleeting thoughts about how to make it up. She hadn't imagined a stiff apology to be her words of choice, the offence committed being a feline-like scratch across his pale face and a giant purple swelling on his rather oversized nose. One would think a big box of chocolates or bunch of flowers would make up for something like that.

The violet-haired teenager turned quietly, looking at her feet for a very strained moment as she examined her toes as well. Archie finally replied stiffly, "it wasn't your fault."

He raised his eyes to look at her in the eye, and she shifted her weight from foot to foot as he awkwardly reached his hand back to rub the back of his neck. "Um, so..." she trailed off, staring back down at her clenched hands. "About - you know -" she started, then hesitated, biting her lip nervously. After a second of thick, uncomfortable silence, she chickened out. "Never mind."

Archie blinked, then his eyes narrowed. "I should get the stuff," he said, grouchy as ever. She saw the flash of hurt in his eyes as he turned and called behind him, "don't wait up."

She watched him walked down the hall and around the corner, and sighed. Atlanta turned back in the other direction and walked back through the janitor's closet through the portal, all the while feeling more than a little ashamed. When she reached Chiron's room, they looked at her expectantly. "He said he'll get it," she muttered.

Odie's face held some sort of pity for her as he looked at her for a moment, then glanced at his friends. "Where's Herry?" he asked.

Jay's face grew stony, but he hastily answered, "he's... out doing something."

The black boy's eyes roamed around the room, watching Theresa's discomfort, Neil's uncharacteristic slouch, and Atlanta's forced, obviously fake smile. Odie's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "Uh-huh," he said, his sharp eyes sensing their untruthfulness.

They stood there, silent, until he burst out with clenched fists, "Tell me the truth." His eyes glittered coldly as he regarded his friends. "Or do you think I can't handle it?"

Neil sighed dramatically and slumped his shoulders. "He _left_, okay?" the blonde said, blowing up the strands of hair hanging over his face. "He went all psycho and he was like, it's all my fault, and Jay was like, no it's not, and he was like, yes it is, and then Jay was like, _fine then_, don't bother coming back if you're - oops."

Theresa smacked her forehead, muttering something about idiots. Neil glared at her, Atlanta glared at Neil, and Odie glared at Jay, who was very uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot.

"Uh, okay," Archie's voice drifted in front the door, obviously somewhat unnerved by the frozen tableau played out in front of him. Odie's laptop was in his hands, a pile of ripped paper on top of the computer. Odie raised an eyebrow at Archie, and he shrugged forcefully. "Don't ask me why it's all ripped!" he protested. "It was like that when I found it!"

Jay glanced at Theresa, who was trying to hide a grin. He shook his head. "Well, do you think you can work with it?" Jay asked Odie nervously as Archie deposited the materials next to his position on the bed. Sitting up, Odie picked up a few of the pieces of paper and looked through them. Odie shook his head, picking up his computer and flipping it open.

Even with his injured arm and cracked ribs, Odie's fingers flew over the keyboard as he typed. In a matter of minutes, the smallest boy of the group had found the time, place, and severity of every one of Erida's attacks, and programmed all of the data into a neat little map. "She takes breaks from the attacks," Odie said, after turning the laptop around to show them his work. "Every three hours or so she disappears, then reappears for a couple more hours."

"What can that be for?" Jay pondered.

Neil snickered, drawing attention from his friends. "Beauty rest!" he burst out, and erupted in a fit of giggles. Atlanta rolled her eyes and urged Odie to continue.

Odie turned the computer back around to face him, free hand flying across the keyboard again. "She covers a pretty wide area, but it seems most of her attacks are concentrated around the heart of the city, in back alleys - it should make sense, then she won't be spotted by anyone - and she never attacks twice in one spot. If I can find a pattern from the spots she's already hit..."

Jay looked on edge as he waited for Odie. His hand was already instinctively covering the handle of his xiphos, and his face was stony.

"...her next attack should be here." Odie finished, a grin on his face as he flipped the laptop around again. A pulsing red dot had appeared in the middle of the simplified map of New Olympia, amid other green points which represented her previous attacks.

"So what can we do?" Neil drawled. "It's not like we can trap her in a net or something."

"No..." Jay said distantly, his mind far away. "No, we can't trap her..."

"Well, we don't have that much information on her, other than that she probably likes sparkly things." Atlanta piped up.

Jay turned to her, frowning. "What d'you mean?"

"Well, she starts attacking, then the apple of Discord disappears," Atlanta said, looking very much surprised that none of the others appeared to have formed this connection. "Don't any of you guys, you know, see _any_ relation between the two?"

Theresa grinned gratefully. "Atlanta, you're a genius!" she cried. "Now we just need something to use as bait, and we can -"

Before she could finish, her sentence was interrupted with a satisfied sigh - one which almost certainly came from only one person.

Slowly, all eyes turned to Neil, who was examining his reflection. He brushed an elegant hand through his silky blond hair, smiling smugly at himself in the mirror, and looked back at the others. "I am _gorgeous_!" he exclaimed.

Pausing, he looked around at them, an identical gleam in each of their eyes, and a less-than-comforting smile present on their faces. "Hey!" Neil said, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "What're you all staring at me for? I mean, I know I'm perfect, bu - oh. Ooooh. Oooh, no you don't! I've have enough of being used as bait, thank you very much! No way and that's that!"

"C'mon, Neil," Archie wheedled pathetically. "We _need_ you!"

"Uh-uh," the blonde said, turning away, sticking his perfect nose in the air and crossing his arms over his chest. "There's _no_ way you are getting me to do anything."

_ thisisadivider_

"I can't believe I'm _doing_ this," Neil grumbled for the fourth time, leaning against a dirty stucco wall, protected by an invisible cage forged by Hephaestus. The sun, peeking out from below the horizon, was quickly setting, and even with Odie's very accurate estimations, Erida was nowhere to be seen. Jay, Atlanta, Archie, and Theresa were hiding behind various dumpsters crowding the shadowy alley, weapons at the ready. Jay had quickly briefed his plan, handing each of them their tools and leaving them to find a suitable hiding spot. Unfortunately, that had been half an hour ago, and the team was tired of waiting.

Archie sighed, relaxing against the giant recycling bin he had chosen to hide behind. "Shut up, Neil," he muttered tiredly, and Theresa gave a murmur of dissent. The handsome blond rolled his eyes, pulling out his mirror and examining his teeth.

The team was just becoming restless when Jay perked his ears, hearing the flap of what seemed like a dozen very large birds flying closer. He shushed his friends and muttered quietly into his mouthpiece, "D'you see that, Odie?"

With barely a crackle, Odie replied from his position on his bed. He had begged to come along, but his injuries were too severe for any physical activity. Eventually, he had hooked Jay up with a tiny mouthpiece and earpiece, so Odie could at least help in some way. "She's coming," the voice from Jay's earpiece sounded, "and she's coming fast."

"Get ready, guys," Jay told the team, and he tensed up, turning his face up to watch the sky intently. The others followed, scanning the soft pink and blue hues of the sunset for a sign on the goddess.

Atlanta was the first to see it: a flash of fiery light quickly approaching above the soft glow of the setting sun.

_thisisadivider_

**A/N**: Expect the next chapter to be chock-full of action! This chapter was double the size for your pleasure, with double the romantic fluff and double the awkwardness. As always: reviews very much appreciated! (And sorry about the lack of normal dividers. They aren't working for me, for some reason...)


	8. Chapter 8

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 8**

Inhaling sharply, Jay ducked closer behind the oversized recycling container he squatted behind, nose wrinkling at the putrid stench of rotting food wafting over from Archie's hiding position. His hand automatically grazed the handle of his xiphos, gently touching the engravings as he peered around the edge of the bin. The rest of the team were also posed in their spots, ready to put up with a fight.

The flash of fire and flap of wings grew ever closer, a shadowy figure attached to the pair of giant, blazing wings. The goddess let out a cackle of a laugh as she landed smoothly on the dirty pavement.

The first thing Archie, from his place behind the garbage dumpster, noticed after his eyes were adjusted to Erida's dazzling wings, was how absolutely disgusting - no, even **worse** that that - _gruesome_ she looked. He was sure he wasn't the only one who noticed this; Theresa was just visible from his point of view and she looked equally taken aback.

From her matted, tangled hair, to her rough and worn old shoes, Erida was covered - no, _encrusted_ - in dirt. Every inch of her bare skin was blackened with mud and grime, even her face and ears; her layers of clothes were tattered and ripped, and he supposed she had several centuries' worth of clothing covering her torso and thighs. The most recognizable layer of clothes under the dust and dirt was a filthy outercoat and unkempt skirt. The only clean item about her was a rather large golden pendant hanging around her neck, a deep red gem set into the middle, and even that looked a little off-colour. If not for the fact she had just had flaming wings of gold, he could have mistaken her for a homeless woman, so common as they were in New Olympia.

There was no time to ponder her hygenic habits, however, because she had obviously noticed Neil, whose horrified expression indicated how appalled he was at her appearance. She gave out a girlish giggle as she looked upon his handsome face, which in contrast was clean, clear, and positively glowing. Her wings gently folded, retracting and disappearing from sight into her back.

Neil had backed himself against the wall, terrified even though he was protected by the invisible bars. He let out a squeal as she came closer to him, murmuring in a cracked voice, "Ooh, aren't you the nicest thing?"

The goddess reached out a hand, hovering dangerously close to the invisible barrier protecting the blond boy, and stepped directly in front of Theresa's hiding place.

With a silent leap, Theresa launched a tiny capsule straight at the surprised goddess. It opened in the air, five barbs joined to a sparkling unbreakable net, and one by one the points embedded themselves into the ground around Erida, trapping her in a glittering net of wires. Neil let out a very loud sigh of relief as Odie, watching everything by way of a camera attached to Jay's shirt collar, released the bars and let him out. The others stepped out from their spots as well, Jay looking especially relieved that his plan had worked out.

The goddess Erida, however, was not so happy about the turn in events, and let out an indignant growl, eyes blazing. With a hand, she swiped at Theresa through a hole in the netting, long, sharp nails glinting where they weren't encrusted with dirt, surprisingly clean teeth bared in fury. The next few events happened very quickly, giving no-one time to react.

The redhead tripped backwards onto the ground over one of the barbs as she dodged the blow, sending it flying back up and embedding into the ground somewhere else. The change in location allowed a large hole to appear in the netting, and Erida seized the opportunity to escape from the net, pushing off the ground with one strong lunge. Her wings folded neatly out again, still flaming brightly against the dark of the sky.

She hovered above them for a moment, fists clenched in anger, then swooped down upon Theresa. Her arms were stretched out to hit the girl, eyes wide with frenzy. Jay and Atlanta yelled her name simultaneously, Atlanta hurriedly shooting a laser arrow at the furious goddess. It rebounded off her necklace but allowed enough time for Theresa to pull out her own weapon and thwack Erida's wrist.

Swooping back up out of their reach, Erida glared down at the team, an immense amount of fury radiating from her very presence, and threw her head back, wild hair encircling the fierce expression displayed on her face. Before they could do anything, she screamed at the top of her lungs, at the top of her power.

Her voice tore at their ears, shrill and harsh and everything that beautiful _wasn't_. It was like an animal, tearing at mind and soul and ripping at the threads that left their sanities hanging; cold and cruel but hot and fierce all at once, bundled up in a grating, echoing package.

Every one of them dropped to their knees, Jay's withdrawn xiphos clattering onto the cold ground as their hands clapped over their pained ears, trying to drown the high-pitched sound out, failing as the scream echoed in their minds. Even Odie could hear it from the sensitive microphone, wincing in pain as his hands blocked his ears and he bit down on his bottom lip, drawing coppery blood.

The sound echoed, echoed, _echoed _in all its shrill intensity, even when she had closed her mouth, throat dry and tired from shrieking. It rattled and shook in their ears, made their eyes screw up in pain, left an imprint on their minds. Erida hovered above them, watching with some sort of cruel delight their pained expressions, their pathetic positions, and gave a cold, bitter laugh. Jay was the first to recover, wrenching his eyes open, dazed and confused. His mind cleared, however, and he picked up his xiphos and pointed it at the goddess.

Her eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in annoyance. "Cronus told me you would be trouble!" she hissed angrily as Atlanta, too, stood up, stumbling slightly, but pointed her wrist crossbow at the goddess. Erida seemed very put off that they had resisted her power, crossing her arms. Jay frowned as she said this, and demanded, "You're working for _Cronus_?"

The goddess rolled her eyes. "Oh, you give him _far_ too much credit," she rasped, in a low, grating voice. "I'm working _with_ him. But that's far too much for you to know..."

Neil stood up, groaning as he patted at his hair. "That was unfair," he muttered, handsome face contorted as he examined the scratches he had received from dropping to his knees. He reached for his mirror.

All of a sudden, Theresa let out a groan behind him, raising her head to face him. Her eyes were wild, fierce orbs, and her muscles tensed tightly as she spotted the blond. Erida gave a smile, delighted, and let out a chuckle as she relaxed to watch. Jay and Atlanta both turned, spotting the girl's animalistic stance. In panic, Jay shouted in their direction, "Neil!"

Neil looked at him, stepping inadvertently to one side. At that exact moment, Theresa leapt in his direction on all fours. Luckily for Neil, his side-step threw Theresa off. Instead of hitting him, as was her obvious intention, she missed completely and rolled into Archie, who still had not seemed to recover from Erida's attack.

Neil blinked. "What?"

Turning his attention away from Neil, Jay instead whipped his head around to check on Archie. "Archie!" he cried, and took a step towards his friend.

With a growl, Archie swiped at the redhead who had just collided into him, slapping her shoulder. Theresa gave an indignant shriek, turning on the violet-haired boy with her nunchucks and hitting him hard in the stomach. He shook his head, dazed, then refocused on the girl with a snarl.

"Jay, we have to do something!" Atlanta said desperately. Neil looked horrified and Erida was still giggling. The brunette turned around, trouble written across his face. "We _can't_!" he moaned. "Either we get torn to pieces, or they'll tear each _other_ into pieces!"

"_Fine_!" Atlanta yelled at him, her face setting fiercely. She looked around quickly, eyes roaming across their settings. _Garbage, recycling, crossbow, xiphos - come on, there's got to be something we can use..._ she thought distractedly. Her gaze fell on Neil, his tazer lying, abandoned, on the ground next to him.

A wild idea implanted itself in her mind, and she grabbed it to the protest of Neil ("_Hey_! I need that for protection!") and the confusion of Jay. Flipping its switch, she threw it, aiming at the two fighting teenagers.

Her aim was, as usual, perfectly on the mark. Flying through the air, it hit Archie first then fell to the ground, a moderate electric charge spreading through his body and out of his left hand, which grasped Theresa's forearm. The charge spread into her body, subduing both of them.

Jay flashed a smile at Atlanta, who had run over to help the two, then turned to look at the goddess hovering overhead. Her fists were clenched tightly and her face stormy as she watched Archie and Theresa open their eyes, still somewhat weak but definitely back to normal.

Eyes blazing, Erida glared at the leader of their group. "This is _not_ what I had in mind," she hissed through gritted teeth, her expression dangerous. Preparing herself to scream again, the team hastily looked at each other, a _what can we do?_ question hanging silently in the air. There was no time for that question to actually be asked, however, before Erida screamed.

This scream was neither as loud nor as powerful as the previous one, but it still brought the team to their knees, clutching at their ears. It echoed as much as the other, the vicious, shrill note reverberating in their minds.

Atlanta struggled to rise to her feet first, teeth clenched as she stumbled forward. She turned to face the others, looking over them hopelessly.

Again, Neil looked up with a pained expression. "Do you have to keep doing that?" he complained, rubbing at his precious ears.

On either side of him, Archie and Theresa managed to stagger upright, groaning. Archie cursed, his ears ringing as he picked up his whip. Theresa shook out her mane of red hair, spinning her nunchucks, ready for anything.

Jay squatted still, eyes closed as the vicious scream echoed cruelly in his ears, tearing at his mind. No, he thought desperately, no, I don't want to -

His vision swam, red mist sliding over his eyes and swathing his senses in thick crimson nothingness. Once they finally parted, he stared up at the blond in front of him, something unrecognizable welling up in his heart.

He was angry, that he knew, and he was going to hurt something. And he knew that he didn't like - no, _hated_ - the blond standing in front of him. _Well, do something about it_, a voice whispered, before his mind stripped down to its primal instincts.

Unexpectedly, Neil dropped down, tying his clean white shoelace into a neat knot. Jay, too slow to register this, swung his xiphos at the other boy, where his neck would have been had he not kneeled down. Theresa's face went white as she saw him attempt to slash at Neil.

The blond stood up again, gaze drifting across at the other three's expressions. They stood stock-still, staring at him - or, rather, behind him - and he frowned in annoyance. "_What_?"

Before they answered, though, Jay lifted his sword again, eyes wide with frenzy, and swung at Neil's neck.

Neil looked down at his feet, realising the absence of the usual weight in his pocket, and rolled his eyes. "Oh, gosh," he muttered, and kneeled to pick up his golden mirror. Admiring himself in it for a moment, he didn't realise how close he had just been to being eternally seperated from his beloved head.

Erida let out a shriek of fury, seeing Jay miss again. Her shriek startled the others into action; Archie pulled out his whip and extended it, the thin cord wrapping tightly around the blade of Jay's xiphos. With a yank, Archie pulled the sword out of Jay's hand, letting it fall several feet away with a metallic clang.

Neil slowly turned around, eyes wide, and looked directly into the eyes of Jay. The blond gave a whimper, stepping back. "Down, boy!" he cried, a hysteric note of panic trembling in his voice.

Jay crouched, eyes still wild. Spots of red were marching across his line of vision, along with streaks of violent black. Like a panther posed to catch its prey, his eyes sought out Neil, following his every movement, and he leapt.

The brunette pushed Neil down to the ground, pawing at his face, and the blond looked around desperately for a second, trying to push Jay off his chest. With a heave, Neil pushed Jay upwards and away from his own body, quickly reached a hand to grasp the handle of his tazer, and swung it across in a wide arc to meet Jay's side.

Theresa immediately rushed over to Jay's side, worriedly placing a hand on his shoulder as soon as he slumped from the electric shock. His eyes closed, then fluttered open again. "Oof," Jay muttered, raising a hand to his aching forehead. "Thanks, guys."

Archie and Atlanta had already turned away, facing Erida. The goddess pouted at them, hands on her hips, and began to say something, but Archie stopped her. Pulling a hand back, then lashing it forward, Archie slashed the goddess' arm with his sharp whip.

With a cry, Erida clapped a hand to the cut as she tumbled to the ground. Her wings retracted and she glared stormily at the team, who now stood solemnly across from her in a group. "If you want a fight, you'll _get_ a fight!" the goddess shrieked, eyes wild. Between her fingers, thick pale liquid oozed slowly from her wound - not blood, but ichor.

Producing several small objects from her pockets, Erida let go of her arm and rose upwards, wings barely forming before she sharply swept down upon the group. With a bird-like cry, she flung the tiny capsules in their direction, and rose again just as she was about to crash onto them.

Taking the chance, Jay slashed one flaming wing with his xiphos and Theresa tried to strike her leg with her nunchucks, barely missing. At first, nothing seemed to happen as she rose above them again, but Jay's sword took on the acrid stench of melting metal, hissing quietly as the sharp edges wilted.

He groaned, tossing the sword to the ground, and produced his extendable staff. Looking around to make sure everyone was alright, he spotted Neil recoiling from something on the ground. "What's wrong, Neil?" Jay shouted as the goddess swept down upon them again.

"_Look_!" Neil cried hysterically, voice rising in pitch. Fending off Erida for the second time, Jay and Archie both uttered - though one with slightly more impatience - "What?"

"It's eating away at the ground!" the blond answered in panic, voice cracking at his last word. "The pellets!"

"Acid," Atlanta comfirmed, glancing at the tiny pool of hissing liquid before resuming her task of shooting lasers at Erida. "Don't let any of those things touch you!"

The goddess, hovering above, flung another round of tiny acid-filled capsules at the team. They luckily missed their mark, though one managed to eat away at the side of Neil's trouser leg as he whimpered. One of Atlanta's lasers hit Erida squarely in the shoulder, and the goddess let out another bellow of pain.

"You're all making me very angry!" Erida shrieked, and reached inside her coat again. This time, instead of a handful of the tiny acid-filled containers, she produced a pure golden apple.

It shone brilliantly, even the tiniest bits of light refracting off its polished-to-perfection surface, and seemed to have a pulsing light of its own, bright and soft white light that lit up the entire alley. It held a perfect shape, round and beautiful, with a leaf of thinly moulded gold attached to its golden stem. The gold was rich and deep, not a dent on its smooth surface, only a small inscription on the base of the apple in neat looped writing which was in a different language.

As soon as she pulled it out, Atlanta and Theresa both froze, eyes glued to the beautifully glittering artifact. "Focus!" Jay shouted at them in frustration, his grip on his xiphos tight. Both of them took no heed, still gaping at the brilliantly shining apple in Erida's dirt-covered hand.

Slowly, the goddess flicked her wrist, her fingers almost elegantly straightening out to let the apple gently slip off her long, slender fingers. It fell as if in slow motion, tumbling through the air in slow revolutions.

Both Atlanta and Theresa reached out, fingers stretched and weapons forgotten, to the golden artifact. Jay opened his mouth, trying to tell them not to touch the apple, when they both grasped hold of it at the same time.

Instantly, their wonder turned into greed. "Oh, give that!" Theresa cried, pulling the apple away from the other redhead. She happily stared at it for a moment, fingers caressing the smooth golden surface. Atlanta gasped, eyes narrowing, and snatched it back. "It's mine! I had it first!" she retorted angrily.

The two girls began shouting at each other, heaving the golden apple to and fro and exchanging a few vicious scratches. They didn't listen to any of the other three's pleadings, nor respond to any other distractions. Archie turned violently back to the goddess, fury written all over his face. "What did you _do _to them?" he demanded angrily, pointing the handle of his Hephaestus whip at her.

She sighed, as if in pity. "Oh, they did that to themselves," Erida cooed, voice very uncomfortably pulling off the expression. "I just hurried up their reaction."

Jay furiously tried to hit her with his staff, missing by more than a foot as she dodged the blow quickly. She gave a laugh. "Oh, you're pathetic," she said viciously, and threw back her head, letting out another sharp, shrill scream.

The leader of the group collapsed with his eyes squeezed close, trying to shut his ears to the horrible sound. It echoed in his ears, ringing painfully in his mind and memory, red, red, mists clouding his vision and taking over his senses.

The last thing Jay remembered before the red mists parted and gave way to wild black streaks and marching crimson spots was thinking, _I let them down again_.

_thisisadivider_

**A/N:** Oh, cliffhangers. I originally intended for this chapter to include more, but it ended up being so long there wasn't a point to keeping all of its content in. This is also the first time I've written any action of this sort, so please review with any crit or opinions you have on the topic!

Next up: more fighting, more screaming, Cronus' appearance, and more!


	9. Chapter 9

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Chapter 9**

It was painful, the way her voice burned at his ears, and Archie struggled to block out the sound of Erida's practised scream, hands clenched between his knees and eyes squeezed shut in agony. After what seemed like hours, he managed to stagger upright and look hopelessly up at the goddess, who triumphantly hovered lower at the scene behind him, giggling.

Turning around hastily, the boy groaned. Atlanta and Theresa had just begun fighting again, much more viciously now as they hit and kicked each other. The apple was tossed back and forth as they fought to reclaim it, employing any dirty means to grasp it for a second before it was tugged away. Jay, on the other hand, was collapsed on the ground, face scrunched up in pain and hands tightly wound up in his dirt-stained shirt. Archie would like to think the team's leader would stand up, unaffected, but it was not wise to take chances.

Pathetically moaning, Neil sat on the ground as he attempted to fix his mussed hair. Archie growled furiously at this. The blond seemed less and less involved with the team lately, he thought, always going off by himself to admire his lovely reflection, and not helping out enough in fights. Grabbing Neil's tazer, Archie swung it at the blond. The weapon hit Neil on the arm, shocking him painfully.

Once the shock had subsided, Neil looked up at Archie. "What was that for?" he asked half-heartedly.

"Use it!" Archie shouted with annoyance as he turned back to face the goddess, whip out at the ready. "Look!"

The blond, holding one end of his tazer, spread his hands out. "What's wrong?"

The pulsing electricity at the other end of the weapon jolted, sending a shock through Jay, who had crept up on the other boy and had unfortunately been whacked with the weapon when Neil had lifted it up. The blond groaned as he turned around, looking at his electrified friend. "Great," Neil muttered, and ran over to try and calm the two girls down.

Facing Erida, Archie flicked his whip, the barb at the tip cutting across the goddess's foot, slicing through her threadbare sandals and nicking the skin underneath. She howled, reaching down and clutching her foot for a moment before angrily landing and launching a round of acid-filled pellets at the teenager. He dodged them easily, taunting the goddess with a mocking laugh. "You couldn't hit me if I was wide as a battlefield!"

Screeching, the goddess furiously curled her hands up into fists, face red with anger. Archie looked back at Neil, and with relief noted that he had managed to stop the two girls from clawing at each other - though they were still fighting over that stupid apple. He understood Theresa being attracted to that sort of thing, but Atlanta?

Not waiting for her opposition to face her again, Erida let out another shrill scream. Archie winced, dropping to the ground with his last thought still forming in his mind, the sound penetrating his mind painfully.

Once the cry had finally faded from his senses, Archie groaned, looking back at the others again. With slight horror, he noted that Theresa and Atlanta were now fighting with their nails again, trying to rip at each other's hair and clothes, and Jay was looking a bit worse for wear, his eyes bloodshot and fierce. Thankfully, Neil struggled to reach for the tazer which had fallen from his hands, and tried to shock them out of it.

Archie turned back to the goddess, determination setting over his face. "You're not going to win," he said fiercely, hand over his whip. She answered by letting fly more of the small capsules in his direction, which he rolled away from narrowly and stood clumsily, lashing the razor cord out at the goddess. His aim was, to his dismay, far off to one side, missing her completely. He had no time to ponder this, though, because she sent another round of pellets at him.

Luckily for Archie, most of her capsules soared above his head, embedding themselves into the pavement behind him. However, three of the pellets came in contact with his golden brace.

Horrified, the boy watched as the acid ate away at the carefully melded joints, causing the brace to uselessly fall apart into three pieces. They clattered to the ground, the gold gleaming in the light, and he stared up at the goddess striding towards him with a cruel grin on her face.

Archie struggled to stand up, weak ankle unsteady, not used to the absence of the heavy brace. He brandished his whip, eyes narrowing at her smug expression, focused intently on her.

Of course, he did not expect her to throw her head back with relish and scream.

He collapsed, weak ankle twisting under his weight, and groaned. Something dark welled up inside him, something bitter and angry that invaded his thoughts even as he tried to fight them off. His vision clouded with spots of crimson and jagged streaks of black as he opened his eyes with hatred for everything around him.

Spotting the goddess standing just before him, he bared his teeth. He knew her. He knew he hated her, hated her with _all his might_ and all the power of his soul, hated her with something he had never experienced before - hate darkening his senses, hate forming a lump in his throat and a barrier to everything else.

Archie reached out stupidly, forgetting the weapon that lay beside him as he tore at her leg with his fingers. He left only one pathetic scratch across his leg before she seized his arm, pulling him off the ground with a strength he didn't seem to remember, and slammed the boy viciously back down.

His weak ankle gave way, electrocuting him with pain from head to toe. Twisted at an unnatural angle, he looked down at it and willed subconsciously for the pain to go away, for his eyes to close... the greater part of his mind blocked this thought, anger welling up and hate still lingering. Archie attempted to paw at Erida's foot, failing.

Erida seized his arm again, lifting him up with a heave and throwing him with all her might against the far wall. He dimly processed this, feeling only a numbing sensation crawling down his bruised backbone and through his leg as the weak ankle was yet again subjected to a heavy land on the cold stone pavement. This time, the hateful emotion was satisfied, and it faded into pure pain.

The goddess, he was sure of later, would have come closer to finish him off. No - he _knew_ she would have done so, and he heard the steps towards him that mocked his agonising injuries. She laughed at him, eyes narrowed cruelly as she lifted a foot to push his weak ankle down, grind it into the ground. _Someone must have told her about the ankle_, he thought faintly. The pain was so great it was almost bearable. His eyes slipped closed a little.

Suddenly, though, there was a cry and a heavy thud of a body against the ground. Archie's eyes opened in alarm, and he looked around, startled. A smile made its way over his face.

Someone very large, very muscular, and wearing a very orange shirt was wrestling Erida on the ground, his brown hair ruffled. Herry had leaped onto the goddess, pushing her away from Archie and struggling to wrest her into submission. Archie's small smile turned into a grin of relief. Jay had been right; Herry would always come back.

Predictably, though, the goddess made her usual cowardly way out: she opened her mouth and shrilly screamed. It didn't bother Archie; he was in too much pain to register it, he supposed. Managing to sit up against the wall, Archie made out Neil still running around the alley, a panicked expression on his face, trying to subdue the catfighting girls and the wild Jay. Herry didn't seem too affected by Erida's trademark scream; he was still trying to punch her.

_Neil never gets affected_, Archie noted with a bit of a frown. He watched the blond hurriedly shock Jay, who limply indicated a thank-you, his body not too happy for the many electrical sparks that had been jammed in. _The scream doesn't always get everyone, either_, he added to his thoughts.

Still somewhat dazed, Archie watched Neil squeal as he neared the girls, jumping back and hugging himself as they almost scratched him. A thoughtful expression made its way onto his face. _Neil's always thinking about himself, but that can't be it - why would thinking about Neil stop Erida?_

His eyes glanced upon Atlanta and Theresa as Neil finally shocked them, and his face hardened for a moment. He had to help them, he desperately reasoned, he had to figure out how to stop her scream. If he didn't, Atlanta and Theresa might get hurt - or worse, die - and if Atlanta got hurt...

Archie closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. If Atlanta was hurt, if she died, he wouldn't be able to show her how much he liked her... suddenly, his eyes flew open. _That's it!_

Just as Erida opened her mouth to let out a scream again, Archie yelled at the top of his lungs, "Think about someone you **love**!"

Even Theresa and Atlanta stopped fighting for a moment, their faces turned towards him, though they resumed albeit slightly more slowly. Neil blinked as his hand sought out the mirror in his pocket, and Jay looked up to the sky with an unreadable expression on his face.

It was sharp, very sharp, and almost as loud as the strongest scream Erida had ever voiced. It echoed in the dark alley, rebounding against the walls and off the ground as it skimmed over the golden apple between Theresa and Atlanta's hands.

Neil's hand clenched over the mirror in his pocket, so tightly the bones of his hand were visible. Jay's eyes closed for a moment, as if in deep thought, his face still facing the heavens. Herry, rolling off Erida because of the forceful inhalation she had given for the scream, was looking down at his balled hands. Archie himself was looking directly at Atlanta. _I love her_.

Erida looked back at them, something dangerous coming over her face as she realised nothing had happened. Furiously, she rolled her hands into fists again and tried to scream. After the high note finished reverberating around the alley, she hopelessly realised that it wasn't going to work, at all.

Instead of saying anything else, the goddess rose to her feet and quickly tried to jump off the ground, her wings folding out. Gleefully, she mocked them as she rose above the ground with the flap of her wings, about to escape.

Jay, however, had other plans. Having recovered from his tiring trials, the leader ran up to her and leaped off the ground, grabbing hold of her left foot. Erida's wings faltered somewhat, but continued to strongly flap and carry them upward.

Coming to his senses, Herry easily wrapped his hand around Jay's foot, pulling the two down with all of his strength. As soon as Jay's feet grazed the ground, Herry pushed Erida back to the ground and pinned her there, easily withstanding her constant struggles. Jay smiled gratefully at the Herculean teen. "I'm glad you came back," he said softly.

Herry nodded at this, his usual grin coming over his face. "So am I."

Quickly, Neil took hold of the unbreakable Olympian rope they had brought to the scene, and Jay tied the goddess up, securing the knots easily. "That should stop her from trying anything," he said, satisfied.

With an angry growl, the goddess replied, "Cronus will come for me, you'll see it!"

Herry rolled his eyes, stepping over to the two quarrelling girls. He easily lifted them away from each other, the golden apple dropping from Atlanta's hand and rolling away to come to a stop at Archie's side, where he slipped it into his pocket.

As soon as the golden apple disappeared from sight, the two girls blinked in confusion.

"Were we arguing over an _apple_?" Theresa asked, looking somewhat alarmed. Herry gently lowered the two girls to the ground as they looked away in shame.

Archie laughed at their comical expressions. "You definitely were."

Atlanta winced. "Oh, gods," she muttered, slapping herself on the forehead. "I'm going to need a _long _run after this."

Shaking his head wryly, Jay cheerfully said, "You'll get one, but we need to get her -" he gestured to the tied-up goddess, who bared her teeth - "back to the gods."

Archie struggled to stand, failing miserably. For the first time, Neil noticed how painfully hurt the other boy was, and he rushed over, attempting to help him up and trying to gather the broken parts of his brace at the same time. "Chiron will have to attend to you," Jay observed with a wince as he gathered up the many items scattered on the ground they had left behind, "I'm afraid you'll have to spend some more time with him." Archie nodded, his teeth gritted as Neil carefully aided him in standing, balanced carefully on his unhurt foot.

Unexpectedly, a bright dazzle of light outlined a neat oval in mid-air. Erida grinned. "He's here," she hissed, with relief.

The oval of light fleshed out, becoming a fiery ring. Atlanta and Jay both stiffened unconsciously, Theresa reaching for her nunchucks, as the inside of the oval became a mirror of the night sky. A leg swathed in black pants was observable through the portal, then Cronus appeared in front of them.

"Cronus!" Jay cried, drawing his xiphos. Atlanta took hold of her wrist crossbow, and Theresa spun her nunchucks threateningly.

"Don't worry, children," the god of Time replied dryly, "I'm not in the mood to fight you today. I've come to reclaim what is mine."

Erida brightened up, her face almost excited. "I told you he'd come for me!" she triumphantly crowed.

Cronus rolled his eyes. "You were entertaining for the most part, Erida," he said coldly, "but I'm afraid you've failed me."

The goddess' face fell. "What?" she whispered, stringy hair falling over her face.

Neil watched this exchange with a confused look on his face. "Um, so are we attacking you or not?" he asked, voice slightly higher-pitched in confusion.

Smiling, the god shook his head. "No, Neil," he said calmly, and drew an elegant hand.

With a click of his long fingers, Erida stiffened painfully with a cry. The fiery wings that had been attached to her back now tore themselves off her, beating twice in all their brilliant glory before folding up and disappearing into a pair of tiny dark discs. They dropped into Cronus' hand, and he tucked them away into his pocket. "I'll be going now," Cronus said, dark eyes flickering over the children and not even glancing over at the goddess.

As he turned away, Erida moaned. "You said you loved me!" she cried in an uncharacteristically vulnerable voice, biting down on her lower lip. A tear was threatening to spill out from the corner of her eye, and the six teenagers watched the developing scene in disbelief.

Slowly, Cronus turned back to face her. "I lied," he answered cruelly, a smile twisting his features. He stepped into his portal, ignoring the soft whimper from the goddess. They were surprised to see that she didn't make a noise as she cried, merely closing her eyes as tears cascading down her dirty cheeks and wetting her cracked lips. As Jay watched, he felt _almost_ sympathetic with the goddess who had just been throwing acid-filled pellets at them.

Pausing from his position at the portal, the god in the black suit turned, looking directly at Jay. "By the way, Jay..."

The leader brandished his xiphos. "What?" he replied roughly.

"Your sword has melted," the god answered, a hint of laughter in his voice as he flashed a grin. "You might want to fix that."

With those parting words, the god vanished, fire-ringed portal swallowing him up to bring him who-knew-where. Atlanta looked helplessly from the silently devastated Erida to Jay, who merely sighed, eyeing the very blunt blade of his deformed xiphos.

"Let's go home."

_thisisadivider _

**A/N:** a quick update, I thought you readers might like the chapter served faster this time. x) So, we find out why the scream affects some people but not others - I hope some of you thought about that!

No, this is NOT the last chapter. I'm making it an even ten; there's some stuff that needs to be tied up in the next chapter. Hopefully you'll find it a nice fluffy happy ending!

As always: reviews much appreciated, as are favourites and pageviews!


	10. Epilogue

**All's Fair in Love and Hate: Epilogue**

"... and then he went back through the portal," Jay explained. Gathered around their leader on the couches neatly aligned in the god's secret home, four tired, blood-splattered heads nodded in dissent at Jay's final words. Archie, though eager to escape his treatment by Chiron, had been hastily rushed to the healer centaur, and Odie had very reluctantly stayed behind to wait for his friends.

Hera gave a slow, regretful smile at this. "Cronus is quite the coward," she sighed, and turned to face the grimy goddess who sat beside the teenagers, bundled up in rope and tears and ignoring everyone around her as she quietly cried. The goddess of matrimony sighed again, this time slightly more sorrowfully. "Erida," Hera murmured, "perhaps we should get you cleaned up."

Atlanta gaped at this. "You mean, you're not going to punish her?" she asked in disbelief. "She would have torn Arch- **us** into pieces!"

In similar confusion, the others stared up at the goddess, eyes wide. Hera shook her head calmly. "I believe she has punished herself enough by her own decisions."

Theresa gave a bit of a _hmph_ at this, at which Hera raised a many-times raised eyebrow. "Would you suggest otherwise?" the goddess asked politely.

"Don't you think it's a bit - I mean -" Theresa started, but bit her lip as her eyes sought out Erida's form. The goddess of hate looked more than devastated, tears having already washed a clean path down her dirt-streaked cheeks. She had made no attempt to escape again, and had not opened her mouth since Cronus' cruel farewell. Curled up and shivering slightly, she looked less than fit to endure any of the entirely too harsh punishments the gods had bestowed on disobedient people before. "Never mind," the redhead added softly.

Ares, who had not spoken a word throughout his stand next to his mother, gruffly suggested, "maybe we should get Chiron to take a look at her."

"Her pain goes far beyond physical injuries," Hera answered sharply. "I've arranged for the Graces to come."

The god of war gaped. "The _Graces_?" he barely squeaked, before straightening up and lowering his voice to only a quiet boom, "but _Mother_, Erida wouldn't like that sort of thing, _really_..."

Jay blinked at this, not used to Ares speaking very much to Hera, no less in such a pathetic tone. The others looked equally taken aback, or in Neil's case, amused; the blond was snickering behind an elegantly manicured hand.

Hera primly pursed her lips. "I've arranged for them to come," she repeated, shooting a cold glare at her son. "That is all."

As if on cue, three softly giggling women sashayed through the open doors, generous curves quite visible through their clingy robes and comely faces clean and fresh. They fell silent as their eyes glanced upon the group of teenagers, drawing closer to each other. One, dressed in flowing green, broke the hushed atmosphere by catching Herry's appreciative eye and twisting a blonde lock around her finger, giving a giggle as she fluttered her eyelashes.

Rolling her eyes, Theresa glared very obviously at the brunette who was similarly reacting to Jay's gaze, smoothing down the fabric of her white gown with practiced fingers. The other, a curvy redhead, smiled at Neil, who waved in recognition.

Leaning over, Herry muttered with an impressed tone, "you _know_ these girls?"

Neil lazily reached for his mirror, checking his perfect blond hair for flyaways. "They hang around with Aphrodite a lot," he answered calmly. "I see them all the time."

Herry gave a whistle. "Lucky," he sighed, leaning back to gaze at the Graces. His blond friend raised his eyebrows smugly, tucking away his mirror. "I sure am."

The three women practically floated up to Hera, curtseying politely to her. They looked at Ares with only slight interest before the redhead piped up, "you called for us, Hera?"

Hera smiled, turning around to gently stroke the feathers of one of her peacocks. "Yes, Thalia," she replied. Looking back in their direction, she added, "I have a job for you."

The brunette clasped her hands together. "We'd be _delighted_ to take it," she said happily, giving a charming laugh that sounded remarkably like the chime of bells.

The blonde Grace added, "Euphrosyne is always delighted."

"Good," Hera said, stroking her peacock once more. "I need you three to take care of Erida for a little while."

Immediately, all three beautiful goddesses gasped simultaneously in horror. "What?" Thalia screeched, before lowering her voice slightly. "But -"

"- _Erida_!" Aglaea finished, looking positively horrified. "It's not possible!"

"And why not?" Hera steadily shot back. "She is in need of some help," she said, nodding to the forlorn goddess still sadly sprawled upon the couch. Erida's body, dirtied and begrimed with both mud and blood, was hardly a sight to be impressed at.

The Graces recoiled, but Euphrosyne doubtfully said, "I suppose so."

Leaning in closer, Hera began speaking very quietly to the three Graces. As her voice wore on, their faces relaxed slightly. The five teenagers stiffly placed upon the couches could not hear Hera's words, although Theresa later remarked that she had said something about "problems with men".

"Oh, the poor dear!" Thaila chirruped, looking sympathetically at Erida. She lifted a hand up for a moment, no doubt comparing the other goddess's dirty skin with her own, then hurriedly moved towards Erida.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Aglaea said, in a very motherly tone. The three hoisted Erida to her feet with surprising strength, accompanying her towards the door. "We'll send her back when she's alright," Euphrosyne called back to Hera.

Just as they pushed Erida past the doorway, Jay suddenly stood. "Wait!" he cried, sliding a hand into his pocket as his friends looked up in puzzlement.

The three Graces turned slightly to look at him. Euphrosyne, the Grace who had just been admiring Jay's figure, smiled. "Yes?" she answered coquettishly.

Taking the golden apple of Discord from his pocket, Jay held it up to the light. The gleam of gold caused Hera's eyes to narrow slightly, her expression slightly hungry. Her fingers twitched once against her white dress, then clenched tightly into fists.

"You'd better give this back to Aphrodite," Jay said calmly, tossing the apple in their direction. "She'll be happy to get it back."

The Graces nodded, Thalia pocketing the apple and sweetly voicing a thank-you as they turned turned, their steps light as they dragged and pushed Erida away. Hera watched them go with a wistful, faraway look in her eyes before she looked back down at the teenagers. "You did well, children," she stated, a smile curving with some difficulty over her face.

Ares rolled his eyes. "Right, then, some warm-ups and cool-downs are in order!" he ordered, clapping his hands together and expectantly glaring at the teenagers. He turned, making it halfway to the door before turning back with annoyance. "Hurry up!"

Shooting death-glares at the war god, the five reluctantly stood, muttering in frustration as they followed Ares to the training room. Jay gave a small, secret smile as he voiced his complaints along with them. Everything was back to normal - or as normal as things could get.

_thisisadivider _

"And then, Hera sent the Graces to pick her up," Neil finished, pulling out a nail buffer and touching up his manicure. Gathered around Archie and Odie, the team was as talkative as ever. Herry sat next to Odie's seat on one of the beds, the smaller boy occasionally reaching down to ruffle his hair the grins on both their faces were wide.

"I just can't believe you figured out the whole thing!" Odie exclaimed in disbelief, shaking his head at the tale of Archie's discovery. He looked mischeviously at Archie and added, "I didn't even know you had a _brain_."

Archie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Very funny," he replied dryly, as the other six giggled amongst themselves. "I'm just lucky you guys all heard me."

"You know, I wonder," Jay pondered, hand stroking chin mock-thoughtfully, "what were you thinking about when you came up with that brilliant solution?"

Theresa's grin widened, eyebrows shooting up. She glanced at Atlanta, and added with a giggle, "or _who_?"

Archie's neck grew dangerously red, heat rushing up to the base of his chin before he shot back, "the real question is, what were you two thinking about?"

Immediately, Jay's face grew bright red and he uncomfortably cleared his throat. The others, the light far too bright in their gleaming eyes, looked at him pointedly. "I, er, don't know what you're talking about," he replied lamely. Shifting from foot to foot as he watched their expressions become more interested, Jay looked to the door and hastily added, "I have some Geography to finish," then walked out the door, head held high with a dignified air but face flaming red.

Likewise, Theresa's face tinted a slight pink. Defiantly, she answered, "that's none of your business," then strode out behind their leader.

Barely disguising his chuckles, Odie looked at Neil, who seemed not at all bothered by the question but slightly put-out by Theresa's hasty exit. Odie raised an eyebrow in curiosity, to which Neil drawled, "you honestly don't know the answer to that question?"

Slipping the nail file back in his pocket and tugging out his golden monogrammed mirror, the blond admired himself or a moment before making his way out the door. Atlanta rolled her eyes at his exit. "You didn't have to ask him," she responded dryly, "the only person he loves is himself."

Herry laughed at this, then stuck his hand in his pocket, drawing out some small change and a very wrinkled five dollar bill. "I'm hungry," he announced, counting through the change. "Odie, treat you to a burger?"

The black boy shrugged nonchalantly, grabbing the laptop case that sat on his lap with his uninjured hand. Chiron had declared him fit to leave after examining both his ribs and his broken arm, though the latter was still encased in a splint. Odie had attributed the unusually quick healing process to the feedings of ambrosia and nectar Chiron had given him. Archie was still grumpy he hadn't been offered any.

Helping his friend up, Herry looked to Atlanta. "You coming?"

The girl shook her head. "I'm... going to stay for a little while," she answered awkwardly. Archie, though he had protested greatly, was deemed by Chiron unfit to go anywhere for the next few days, though his ankle was healing quickly. Jay suspected this had something to do with the mysterious salve Chiron applied to his heel thrice a day - it gave off a suspicious scent very similar to honey. The scars on Archie's face were still healing slowly.

Odie grinned, eyes flickering between Archie and Atlanta, and turned. "Let's not keep them apart any longer," he said loudly, striding through the door as Herry guffawed next to him. Archie's face reddened.

The silence that followed was somewhat uncomfortable as both Archie and Atlanta searched for things to say. Finally, Archie broke through with the stunningly intelligent statement, "Weather's been nice lately."

"Yeah," Atlanta automatically replied. Again, they fell back into an awkward silence.

After a moment of staring at the ceiling and twiddling his thumbs, Archie tried again. "Lot of homework, huh?"

"Tons," the redhead answered woodenly. They lapsed back into quiet, only the soft thrum of Apollo playing his lute a few rooms over wavering in the air.

Archie started then paused for a moment, staring at her, and raised an eyebrow. "You sure are a great conversation carrier."

Atlanta gave a bit of a laugh, looking up at him. "I'm usually better with conversation," she said dryly, "but only if the conversation involves someone with equal or higher brainpower than me."

"Hey!" Archie cried, glaring at her. "That wasn't very nice, considering I just about saved your life back there."

She grinned, prodding him. "And I guess I'm eternally grateful."

"You better be," he retorted, making a face. "I sacrificed life and limb for you guys."

"That's what we do for each other on a weekly basis," Atlanta replied wryly. "It all comes with being the saviours of mankind."

He nodded thoughtfully, looking down at his injured ankle. Her gaze followed his, resting on the swollen heel that had been bandaged securely, a golden liquid seeping through from where Chiron had applied a poultice.

Atlanta took in a breath as she let her eyes travel back up to his face, biting her lip. "I wanted to talk to you," she muttered.

"Yeah?" he asked curiously, though something expectant glittered in his eye, "About what?"

"Okay, well," she said, hesitating as she drew out the last word, "I've been thinking more about when, you know, you asked me about going out to watch a movie one day?"

Archie's face took on a frozen look, and he coughed, expression growing a little hopeful. "Uh, yeah?"

"And when you told me you really liked me and all that," she finished, fiddling with her belt loops. He nodded, looking slightly more excited.

Atlanta took another deep breath. "I don't think it's going to work out."

"**What**?" he blurted as his face fell, then quickly tried to cover his tracks. "Well, if you feel that way - I mean, you know, I didn't mean anything serious or -"

"I do like you," the redhead muttered, and it was enough to stop him as he stared at her with disbelief written all over his face, "I _do_. But maybe we should, you know, wait a bit?"

"Why?" Archie asked, looking a bit crestfallen. He was clutching the sides of his bed very tightly.

Atlanta bit her lip, going a bit pink. "Jay's always talking about group dynamic and all that, you know, and maybe it would be better if we lay off until we're all done with Cronus. I have a feeling it's not going to be easy, catching him, and I don't want to ruin it for the team if anything goes wrong."

After a moment of subconciously holding his breath, Archie's expression relaxed slowly. Nodding, Archie reluctantly muttered, "I guess you're right."

She grinned, then, a nice grin that warmed his heart a little, and Archie found himself smiling back. "Let me treat you to ice-cream once I can get out of here, though," he added.

He found himself looking at a doubtful Atlanta, and Archie wheedled, "c'mon, just once, at least."

"I don't think once is enough to make up for all the money you owe me," she teased, crossing her arms. He groaned, reaching a hand up to rake through his unruly violet hair, and winced slightly as his ankle shifted in the wrong direction.

"A grocery store, then," he shot back, rolling his eyes. "I guess a pound of apples is cheaper than two chocolate sundaes."

"Golden apples?" Atlanta asked grimly, smile twisting slightly, "I think I've had enough of those."

Archie reached over to punch her shoulder. "From what I know, Atalanta would take up an offer of golden apples at any chance she got."

She stuck her tongue out at him, pushing his fist away and standing up. "I don't think we work that way, even though I_ am_ a faster runner than you are," she retorted, though she was smiling. Quickly, she stepped away before he could reach over to punch her playfully, making faces at Archie as she headed out the door.

The violet-haired warrior shook his head with a laugh as he tucked his hands behind his head, letting his eyes close. "I'll make sure to thank Aphrodite this time around," he called to her, the smile on his face widening. _If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me_.

_thisisadivider _

"_Agnon_!"

The giant grunted, looking up from his place guarding the entrance to the caverns, and lumbered forward towards the sound of Cronus' voice. The god, imperiously seated at the head of a magnificent table carved from stone, looked impatient. And very annoyed.

Agnon grunted again as he slowed to a stop next to Cronus, who tapped his forefinger loudly against the armrest of his chair. The god's face was twisted into an annoyed frown, glowering at the giant. "_Where_ is the plate of fruit I asked you to retrieve for me?"

Pausing, the giant pondered this question. He didn't recall ever receiving an order to get anything, plate or not. Looking up to Cronus, he shrugged dumbly.

It was the wrong answer. In anger, Cronus seized a large building block from the model in front of him and threw it at the giant, a sharp corner hitting him squarely in the forehead. Agnon winced.

"You _fool_!" Cronus growled, sinking back down in his chair and covering his face with his hands. Perhaps, he thought in a moment of pure reflection, the other gods were wise in choosing children as their warriors - for one, humans actually had the ability to think.

With a sigh, he rubbed at his temples with his forefingers and looked back at where the giant stood - or, really, where he had stood only a moment ago. With a furious bang of his fist, Cronus growled, "Agnon!"

A whimper came from under the table, and Cronus stood up, marching over and bending down to peer under the tabletop. "Agnon, you _idiot_, what are you doing?"

Eyes wide with fear, the giant nursed a spot of raw skin at his forehead, and whimpered again as he pointed just over Cronus' shoulder. The god, however, did not have time to turn back and look, because something very small but very painful came in contact with his rear end.

With an undignified howl, Cronus brought his hands around to clutch at his injured rear, leaping about in pain. He dropped to the floor, rolling about with moans of agony before the sore spot finally healed over. Clearing his throat as soon as the sting of pain had subsided, he straightened up in a useless attempt to regain his dignity. Agnon was quietly snickering under the table.

The god of Time groaned, massaging the patch of skin that was now visible through his burnt pants. He looked around with sharp eyes, trying to spot the source of his injury to both his rear end and pride. All he observed that was out of place were two halves of a tiny capsule lying innocently on the floor.

Reaching down to pick up the empty broken pellet, Cronus' brow furrowed in confusion. They fit together, that was true, but there was no indication of where they might have come from, other than a tiny engraving barely the size of the top of a pen cap etched carefully into the surface of one. The god squinted at the engraving, trying to make it.out, but all he could see was the letter E.

Suddenly, another of the pellets came in contact with his hand, and Cronus let out another howl of pain as it broke and the acid inside burned at his skin. There was no time for him to nurse it, though, because a shower of the tiny capsules came raining down on him, and he began to jump and duck in order to try to avoid the burning pellets. In the middle of the strange dance he was doing to avoid the painful pellets, Cronus looked up to see the silhouette of a woman standing just before him. "Who's there?" he called, in a panic, trying to summon up his scythes and dodge the capsules of acid at the same time.

As she strode forward, he caught glance of the mousy brown hair falling across her face and over her eyes as well as the clean green robes that swathed her body. Holding up a handful of small acid-filled pellets, her eyes glittered furiously.

"_Nobody_," Erida hissed dangerously, "lies to the goddess of Hate."

_thisisadivider _

** A/N: **So that's the end! I couldn't resist giving Erida a happier ending - I rather though she ought to have one. Nice bits of fluff, an quite a few myths thrown into the mix. In case you can't recognise them, the Graces were the goddesses of beauty who took Aphrodite into their care, and that's why Erida isn't as dirty as she was in the first place at the end; Archie and Atlanta are referring to the myth of Atalanta as they banter.

I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, given con-crit, favourited, alerted, taken a look, and c2ed this story - you guys are awesome!

Not planning for a sequel, but I do have some things coming up that a few of you might just like!


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